France and Italy signed an agreement Wednesday to cooperate on research into nuclear power and renewable energy, the first concrete step under a joint venture agreed at a bilateral summit in February.
The accord was signed by the president of the French Atomic Energy Commission, Bernard Bigot, and the head of Italy's National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and the Environment, Luigi Paganetto.
The framework agreement for cooperation on civilian nuclear matters was initialled by French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Feb. 24. It covers research and waste treatment as well as the construction of nuclear power plants.
"Italy has returned once again to nuclear power. Italians understand that without energy there is no development and that without nuclear energy there is no economic competitiveness," Italy's Minister for Economic Development Claudio Scajola said at a news conference at the French embassy in Rome.
The Berlusconi government announced shortly after taking office in May 2008 it would begin building nuclear power stations to solve the country's dependence on foreign oil and gas supplies.
The ban on nuclear power followed a 1987 referendum in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine, a year earlier. The country's four nuclear plants operating at the time were shut down.
Italy depends on foreign sources for 87% of its energy needs. Oil accounts for 43% and gas 36% of its energy use.
The accord is the "first step" following the cooperation agreement signed in February, Paganetto said.
It applies in particular to the training of experts, the development of fourth-generation reactors, biofuels and energy storage.
The Italian government has set itself a goal of producing 25% of its energy needs from nuclear power by 2030. Another quarter must be produced from renewable energy sources and 50% from fossil fuels.
The first nuclear plants are scheduled to be operational by 2018 and the aim is to build between eight and 10.