Italy eyes nuclear power comeback by 2035

ROME — Italy could be generating nuclear electricity again by 2035, Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said, as a landmark bill to reverse the country’s decades-long nuclear shutdown heads for a vote in the senate. Italy turned away from nuclear power after a 1987 referendum prompted by the Chernobyl disaster, closing its last plants in 1990. Now geopolitical uncertainty and some of Europe’s highest business electricity costs are driving a rethink. The bill would establish a legal pathway for new reactors. It is expected to reach the senate on Monday, with approval expected within days, having passed the lower house in June .