Italy will generate nuclear electricity by 2018 as the government aims to see around a quarter of the country's needs met by atomic power, writes daily La Stampa Thursday, citing Industry Minister Claudio Scajola.
The government's target is for Italy to ultimately have between eight and 10 nuclear plants, the newspaper cites the minister as telling reporters during a visit in Vietnam. He didn't say where the facilities will be based.
The government plans to introduce new rules by the end of 2008 to allow for the reintroduction of nuclear power.
Italy banned nuclear power more than two decades ago following a referendum on the back of the Chernobyl disaster in 1986 - the world's worst nuclear plant accident which contaminated parts of Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.