The Italian cabinet Wednesday approved, as expected, a one-year moratorium for the country's nuclear comeback, and the government may decide to end the atomic program if it isn't satisfied with the European Union's stress tests on safety, ministers said.
The Italian cabinet Wednesday approved, as expected, a one-year
moratorium for the country's nuclear comeback, and the government may decide to
end the atomic program if it isn't satisfied with the European Union's stress
tests on safety, ministers said.
Wednesday's cabinet meeting decided on the one-year moratorium for the
procedures that would have allowed to determine where the nuclear sites could
be built, Industry Minister Paolo Romani said in a statement.
"The government won't proceed with the realization [of a nuclear program]
if the initiatives at European Union level don't provide full guarantees on
safety," Romani said during parliamentary question time.
Italy
's aim
is to eventually achieve a balanced mix of energy sources that reduce its
dependency on fossil fuels, said Romani.
In a separate note, Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo said: "The
one-year nuclear moratorium is a decision based on common sense, of precaution,
of respect for the concern of citizens in front of extraordinary events."
The government's decision to impose the moratorium is based on the need to
gather the full facts on the nuclear accident in
Japan
in
relation to the safety of existing plants and those with more modern
technology, said Prestigiacomo.
Italy
banned nuclear power in a 1987 referendum but the government of Prime Minister
Silvio Berlusconi announced in 2008 it would allow its return.
In recent days Italian ministers had asked for a pause on the nuclear comeback
following the accident at
Japan
's
Fukushima Daiichi complex.
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