Italian nuclear policy claim rejected

A claim against Italy’s national nuclear policy brought by eleven regional governments has been rejected by the Constitutional Court.

The claim had been filed in February by 11 regions that said a pro-nuclear policy should not have been brought in without proper consultation. Imposing a unilateral decision was an abuse of power by the government, the regions said, because 2001 reform of the Italian constitution shared competence on energy between central and local governments.

The region of Piemonte withdrew its support from the claim in early June, to leave ten objections before the court, while observers discussed whether energy was a strategic sector that should be under the sole authority of central government. It was said that some of the regional heads were pushing for a federal system.

Yesterday the claim was officially rejected by the Constitutional Court as partially unfounded and therefore not admissable.

Meanwhile, Stefano Saglia, under-secretary of economic development, said that “the government is willing to pursue its nuclear energy policy respecting the constitution and the regions.” And visiting the Flamanville nuclear power plant in France, Stefania Prestigiacomo, minister for the environment, invited environmentalists to look at nuclear energy without sterotypes or prejudice.

The search for a new minister for economic development to replace Claudio Scajola continues following his resignation to battle corruption charges in early May. Prime minister Solvio Berlusconi has not yet announced a successor for Scajola, with his government under pressure from European financial crisis and domestic political trouble.

Source: World Nuclear News

GdF Suez and EOn to explore Italian nuclear power development

France’s GdF Suez and EOn of Germany have agreed to jointly explore opportunities in Italy’s nuclear power sector. The companies have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) focusing on the current and developing market for new nuclear energy in the country.

EOn and GdF Suez said they will examine all the key issues related to new investment in nuclear power plants, such as technology, locations and industrial partnership. They will also “engage dialogue with the national and local authorities on mechanisms to promote a stable, clear and predictable regulatory environment.”

In a joint statement, EOn and GdF Suez said: “Through this agreement, Italian nuclear new build will benefit from the backing of two companies with extensive experience in operating nuclear power stations and resources, and skills to deliver new nuclear plants.”

EOn and GdF Suez said that, as in other nuclear projects, they are also in favour of a strong cooperation with local utilities, as well as with large consumers in Italy.

Klaus Schäfer, CEO of EOn in Italy said: “Nuclear is one of the ways for Italy to rebalance energy generation in the next fifteen years while ensuring security of supply, reducing carbon emissions and keeping energy as affordable as possible. The introduction of new nuclear power, alongside cleaner fossil fuels, renewables and energy efficiency, will be vital going forward.” He added, “If the conditions in the Italian Market continue to develop in the desired direction, our cooperation with GdF Suez might contribute to the constitution of a further consortium in the future.”

Stéphane Brimont, president and CEO of GdF Suez Energy Europe, commented:  ”The memorandum of understanding between EOn and GdF Suez is a first step of our cooperation to deliver an early, substantial and vital contribution for the re-entry of nuclear power in Italy.” He noted, “To move forward we need the completion of the well advanced regulatory framework, a strong industrial partnership open to Italian and other European partners and a competitive process to access to suitable nuclear sites.”

Italy phased out nuclear power after a referendum in 1987 but legislation finalised in 2009 has placed nuclear back at the forefront of the country’s plans, calling for 25% of Italy’s electricity to be nuclear generated by 2030.

Italy’s major utility, Enel, formed a partnership with Electricité de France (EdF) in August 2009 for a joint venture investigation towards building four 1650 MWe EPR units in the country. If new build proves feasible, separate project companies will be set up to build, own and operate the new power plants.

Source: World Nuclear News

Italy’s nuclear power development: Enel and EDF still on track despite delays

Italy’s Enel (ENEI.MI) and France’s EDF (EDF.PA) are still on track to start building nuclear power stations in Italy in 2013 despite regulatory delays, the head of their nuclear joint venture said on Friday.

The two major utilities plan to build four nuclear power stations in Italy as part of the country’s push to relaunch nuclear energy sector abandoned after a 1987 referendum which followed the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.

“Delays with the creation of a (nuclear safety) agency have not yet had an impact on our project. But if such delays are protracted, we would probably have to take it into consideration,” Francesco de Falco, chief executive of Sviluppo Nucleare Italia, told Reuters on the sidelines of a conference.

De Falco said the government was determined to push ahead with Italy’s nuclear revival plans, brushing off suggestions they could shelved after their main driving force, Industry Minister Claudio Scajola resigned last month.

Italy is the only Group of Eight industrialised nation without nuclear power, but the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi aims to relaunch it and have a quarter of all power in the country generated at nuclear plants in the future.

De Falco said his company aims to take a final investment decision on the nuclear projects in two to three years allowing it to start work as planned in 2013 and begin generating nuclear power in 2020 at a first plant.

“We are waiting for a legislative framework to be completed, for the agency to be created. Then we’ll be able to start selecting sites, make a feasibility study and determine the size of the project,” he said.

Enel and EDF can open their project to other partners, as long as Enel has a leading operating role in it, but they have not received any proposals yet, de Falco, an Enel veteran, said.

Enel has estimated overall investments in building the four stations at 16-18 billion euros ($19.50-21.94 billion). ($1=.8205 Euro)

Source: Reuters

Westinghouse eyes Italian nuclear market

A conference in Italy has seen strong support for Westinghouse’s entry to the emerging Italian nuclear market as well as worries over the continuation of development.

The 12 May conference was organized by EnergyLab, an energy research foundation created by the Lombardy region and some local universities, and took place at the Lower Chamber of the Italian government.

Silvio Bosetti, director of EnergyLab and assistant of the president of utility A2A, said that his organization was “assessing whether we could adopt the Westinghouse AP1000 on the Italian soil.” He said one “advantage [of AP1000] is its smaller need for water, thus the possibility to install by a river, not only by the sea.” Lombardy is a landlocked region in northern Italy that boasts a population approaching 10 million and a significant part of the country’s economic activity.

Gary Shuttleworth, director of international business development at Westinghouse, confirmed mutual interest: “We are putting a great deal of effort to join the Italian nuclear program, contacting all the major European utilities with interests in Italy.”

The meeting also saw involvement from Giuliano Locatelli, manager for power projects at Ansaldo Nucleare, who added that his firm could support Westinghouse work in addition to its commitment to Areva’s plans with the utility, Enel. Speaking for the Ministry of Economic Development, undersecretary Stefano Saglia said “it’s our opinion that both systems have characteristics which are not in contradiction and that are two opportunities which could integrate in Italy.”

The conference also saw many participants underline the importance of the Nuclear Safety Agency in defining the criteria and rules, lamenting the delay in its creation. The agency does not yet have a head, although oncologist Umberto Veronesi has been mentioned several times as a possible candidate, and neither has its charter been released despite announcements that this was imminent. “We need the agency to start the licensing process and to evaluate the risks we will face during the construction phase,” said Shuttleworth.

Another main issue of discussion was the sudden resignation last week of Italy’s most visible nuclear supporter, Minister of Economic Development Claudio Scajola, after allegations of corruption.

Saglia rejected any worries about the Italian commitment to nuclear energy: “It’s a concern denied by the direct commitment of the prime minister [Silvio Berlusconi, who is currently minister ad interim for economic development], which has repeated the willingness to speed up the process.”

However, a few days ago, Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, CEO of Finmeccanica, in an interview at the Financial Times said that the resignation could have some repercussions as Scajola “was strongly committed and was pushing for a revival of a nuclear program in Italy”. Berlusconi is yet to announce a new head for the ministry, with this delay partly due to the European crisis over the Greek economy as well as domestic issues.

Source: World Nuclear News

Enel peeks at international opportunities

The prospect of Enel’s involvement in the Kaliningrad nuclear project has been raised by a cooperation deal with a Russian firm.

Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave on the Baltic sea positioned between Poland and Lithuania which Russia’s state nuclear industry hopes to use to exports nuclear energy from the two VVER-1200 pressurized water reactors of the forthcoming Baltic nuclear power plant.

For the first time on Russian soil Rosatom is looking for foreign partners to take up to 49% of a nuclear project, and Italian power giant Enel now looks a likely fit. A cooperation agreement was signed by Enel chief Fulvio Conti and Boris Kovalchuk of Inter RAO UES during a meeting of the Italian and Russian prime ministers at Villa Gernetto, the private home of Silvio Berlusconi.

Prime ministers Vladimir Putin and Silvio Berlusconi meet the press after spending time at Berlusconi’s villa

Inter RAO UES represents a merger of a number of Russian power generators brought together in 2008 and is owned by state holding corporation Rosatom and nuclear operator Rosenergoatom. It will “provide terms and conditions for foreign investors’ involvement in the Baltic nuclear power plant.” It will also develop plans for the export and distribution of a “significant proportion” of power from the two 1170 MWe reactors. The Polish and Lithuanian markets would appear to be the main targets, ahead of their own plans to develop nuclear power capacity.

Separately, Enel will study the project and “evaluate the conditions and forms of its possible participation into the initiative.” The plant is hoped to begin operation between 2016 and 2018.

Elsewhere in Italy

A fusion of interests Another deal to come from the prime ministerial meeting concerned cooperation into building an Italian-designed fusion reactor called Ignitor. The unit is small at a radius of less than 2 metres and an output of 90 MWt, but would theoretically be able to achieve ‘ignition’ – the state when the heat produced by fusion reactions is great enough to sustain a plasma of atomic nuclei moving fast enough to fuse. Achieving this kind of steady-state plasma is the main goal of the far larger Iter project (19 metre radius and 500 MWt), and necessary before any kind of reliable fusion power plant is possible.

Politically, the most significant development coming for Italy in the near term will be a June ruling from the supreme Corte Costituzionale (Constitutional Court) concerning appeals from regional leaders against Berlusconi’s national nuclear policies, which they say conflict with the need for regions to be involved in energy policy.

While Enel plans with Electricité de France to construct a number of Areva EPR units, the prospect of reviving one of Italy’s shut down reactors has surfaced in comments by Senator Guido Possa to financial newspaper IlSole24Ore. Possa said decommissioning the Caorso boiling water reactor, built by General Electric in the 1970s, would cost taxpayers about €500 million while it retains some €1 billion in value.

“I’m wondering why should we renounce such an economic benefit considering that the plant worked for only six years while in the world similar plants operative life has been extended to 60,” said Possa. “The operation is technically feasible and it is convenient… as decommissioning activity [to date] has not included the structure and the main equipment.”

Source: World Nuclear News

Russia and Italy plans for nuclear energy

Visiting Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi Monday met here to discuss a range of bilateral issues, including plans to build a nuclear plant jointly in Kaliningrad in Russia.

Representatives of Russian energy company Inter RAO and Italian power giant Enel signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to cooperate on future projects, including nuclear energy.

At a joint press conference with Putin after talks at Villa Gernetto in northern Monza province, Berlusconi said he renewed his “esteem, affection and friendship” for the Russian prime minister.

Berlusconi said bilateral trade had fallen by 30 percent because of the economic crisis. “Prime Minister Putin and I want that to return to levels of 2008,” Berlusconi said. “We are working towards that.”

Russia will donate 7.2 million euros (about $9 million) for the reconstruction of Palazzo Ardinghelli and the church of San Gregorio Magno that were badly damaged in last year’s earthquake in the central Italian city of L’Aquila.

Source: IANS/AKI

France, Italy helps Greece and strengthen nuclear deals

France and Italy backed pledges to help debt-stricken Greece on Friday after a summit meeting at which they also agreed to tighten cooperation in the planned rebirth of Italy’s nuclear energy industry.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi built on a nuclear energy accord signed last year, under which France agreed to help Italy rebuild a sector that it abandoned after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.

But the meetings were overshadowed by the tense situation facing the euro zone as the Greek debt crisis has gathered in intensity after growing doubts over a rescue plan.

“The Greek authorities have taken courageous measures to restore their public finances,” Sarkozy said at a joint news conference with Berlusconi.

“A support plan has been agreed by all the countries of the euro zone. We are ready to take action at any moment to come to the aid of Greece,” he said.

The main part of the meetings, attended by senior ministers and energy industry executives from both countries, was devoted to a series of agreements intended to bolster cooperation in the nuclear sector.

Berlusconi’s center-right government wants 25 percent of Italy’s electricity to come from nuclear power and France, the world’s second largest producer of atomic energy, has eyed the potentially lucrative market closely.

Seven agreements were signed, including a memorandum of understanding on reactor projects between France’s Areva, the world’s biggest nuclear reactor maker, and Italian engineering group Ansaldo Nucleare.

Italy will use Areva’s latest EPR technology, a reactor designed to resist powerful shocks including plane crashes, for the first four plants to be built.

Another agreement on training and research was signed, giving France an important role in building the next generation of Italian nuclear engineers and technicians.

Plans for a joint Franco-Italian army brigade specializing in mountain warfare were also unveiled, matching the existing Franco-German unit created by former President Francois Mitterrand and ex-Chancellor Helmut Kohl.

The announcement, of mainly symbolic importance for the moment, matched agreements over defense cooperation in satellites and naval operations.

A separate series of accords opening the way to cooperation between French national rail operator SNCF and the Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato were also signed.

Source: Yahoo! News / Reuters

France, Italy signs 7 MoU’s

French nuclear giants will sign a series of agreements with Italian engineering firms during a summit on Friday to bolster their presence in a country preparing to relaunch atomic power, sources said on Thursday.

The Italian government, which pulled out of nuclear energy after the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine, gave a final approval in February to a decree paving the way for starting work on new plants in 2013 and nuclear production by 2020.

Silvio Berlusconi’s government aims to rebuild the sector and wants 25 percent of generated electricity to come from nuclear.

Italy’s biggest utility Enel (ENEI.MI) and France’s state-owned nuclear energy producer EDF (EDF.PA) plan to build four nuclear plants in Italy using Areva’s (CEPFi.PA) EPR technology, covering half of Italy’s needs.

“Seven agreements will be signed in the nuclear power sector between governments, companies and I think this will seal not only a partnership but also a symbiosis between our two countries,” a French presidency source said.

France, with its 58 nuclear power reactors, is the world’s second largest producer of nuclear energy after the United States and kept faith with atomic technology after the Chernobyl disaster.

Areva, the world’s largest nuclear reactor maker, will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with engineering group Ansaldo Nucleare (SIFI.MI) on the set up and commissioning of current reactor projects, another source close to the matter told Reuters.

Areva will also sign an agreement with the Techint Group, a conglomerate of international companies, which holds shares in some 100 engineering, steel, oil, gas and service companies.

TRAINING AND EDUCATION

“Areva needs to join forces with local companies in order to carry out its nuclear projects,” the second source said, adding the agreement with Techint would allow Areva to benefit from the firm’s presence in the Middle East and its know-how on managing large industrial projects.

EDF, ENEL and Ansaldo Nucleare were also set to sign an agreement although no details had emerged.

The French presidency source added that an inter-governmental agreement would be signed on academic, technical and scientific cooperation to ensure the training of a new generation of engineers and researchers in Italy.

“Never in our history have we signed such a package of agreements, which are so coherent, ambitious, and which cover such a large spectrum of cooperation,” the presidency source said.

No deal would be signed on EDF purchasing Italy’s A2A (A2.MI) stake in Edison (EDN.MI) to give the French giant control of Italy’s second-biggest utility, the presidency source added. [ID:nLDE62N28G]

Source: Reuters

Italy, a step closer towards nuclear energy

Opposition to nuclear power in Italy is based on prejudice, unjustified fear and suspicion, according to the head of the Italian electricity utility ENEL.

“Nuclear power is cleaner, safer and more socially responsible. It is part of the solution to move towards greater independence and is friendly to the environment,” ENEL’s chief executive officer Fulvio Conti said at a roundtable discussion here.

According to the ENEL chief, people are worried about nuclear power “because they don’t know enough about it and it is up to us to inform and educate these people”.

Conti went on to argue that “there is not one single technology which can allow us to meet our needs, not even renewable energy. And nuclear power is certainly not in contrast with developing these alternative energy sources”.

Solar, energy and other natural energy sources, the ENEL CEO observed, “depend on nature, which is a somewhat erratic distributor of these sources and thus cannot guarantee meeting energy demands 24 hours a day, 30 days a month and 365 days a year”.

This is why we need a mix of energy sources which also includes nuclear power,” Conti said.

“Not accepting nuclear power is not good politicy. There is no opposition to it within the government, only among individual politicians,” he added Also taking part in the roundtable was Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo who said a return to nuclear power “is not an easy path, considering we are practically starting from square one”.

“The government is strongly committed to this goal, in particular the environment ministry, which is one of the two pillars supporting the nuclear security agency. It’s not going to be easy but we’re working on it and working together,” she added.

Industry Minister Claudio Scajola on Monday announced that the cabinet on Wednesday will meet to definitively approve the guidelines and criteria to be used in choosing sites for future nuclear power plants.

Speaking on a morning TV news show, the minister added that ”from that moment on the construction companies will be able to choose the most adequate sites and once this is done I think within two years the necessary authorisations should be granted.

Italy abandoned nuclear power in 1987 after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and is now the only leading western power without it. Last summer the Italian parliament gave its green light to a return to nuclear power through which Italy hopes to cover 25% of its energy needs in the future.

ENEL has said that if the guidelines were approved in the first half of 2010 it could pick its first site by October 2010 with actual construction beginning in July 2015 Based on this timetable, the utility said it expected to have its first new nuclear power plant up and running by July 2020 and that the other plants it planned to build with French partner EdF would open after intervals of 18 months from July 2020 for a total of four reactors in three plants. A year ago Italy and France struck an accord to cooperate in the production of nuclear energy using the advanced third-generation European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) technology developed by EdF. The agreement calls for the building of at least four nuclear reactor plants in Italy, using French technology, and the participation of Italian electricity utility ENEL in the construction of another five plants in France. In September, Italy and the United States signed a five-year agreement for the development of 12 new-generation nuclear power plants in Italy and there is an option to extend the accord another five years.

Source: ANSA.IT

USA and Italy signs nuclear cooperation

The USA and Italy have signed a nuclear energy cooperation agreement, opening the door of the Italian market to US suppliers of nuclear technology and services.

The five-year agreement was signed in Washington yesterday by Italy’s minister of economic development, Claudio Scajola, US energy secretary Steven Chu and deputy secretary of commerce Dennis Hightower.

The Joint Declaration on Nuclear Cooperation will allow American companies to bid to supply goods and services for nuclear energy-related projects in Italy. There is an option to renew the agreement for a further five years. General Electric and Westinghouse both welcomed the signing of the agreement.

The agreement calls for cooperation between the two countries to construct up to a dozen new nuclear power reactors in Italy. It also creates a framework for the exchange of skilled nuclear workers, as well as information and materials. It also covers the treatment and storage of radioactive waste. The agreement establishes a bilateral surveillance panel comprising of two representatives from each country which will meet to discuss the programs once per year.

Aris Candris, president and CEO of Westinghouse, commented: “Italy clearly wants and deserves access to the world’s best technology as it works to make clean, safe and reliable nuclear energy a larger part of its energy mix.”

Scajola was today due to tour FirstEnergy’s Beaver Valley nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania, which is based on Westinghouse technology.

Following a referendum in November 1987, provoked by the Chernobyl accident 18 months earlier, work on Italy’s nuclear program was largely stopped. In 1988, the government resolved to halt all nuclear construction, shut the remaining reactors and decommission them from 1990. As well as the operating plants, two new boiling water reactors were almost complete and six locally-designed pressurized water reactor units were planned. Various fuel cycle facilities were also shut down. The country now relies on imported energy to meet its needs – notably from France, where 78% of electricity comes from nuclear.

In 2004, a new energy law opened up the possibility of joint venture with foreign companies in relation to nuclear power plants and importing electricity from them. This resulted from a clear change in public opinion, especially among younger people favouring nuclear power for Italy.

This situation was reversed by the general election of May 2008, when Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party put a return to nuclear energy in its manifesto.

Italy has since signed nuclear cooperation agreements with Russia, France and Japan.

Source: World Nuclear News

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