Power Engineering - Tight gas market prompts Italian power leaders to think nuclear

27 September 2007 - Fears of the future supply of gas for power generation in Italy behind an increasing support for nuclear power from among leading industry figures, it emerged at an energy summit held in Milan yesterday.

Speaking at the 7th Italian Energy Summit organised jointly by IBC Global Conferences and Il Sole 24 Ore, Riccardo Monti, senior partner and managing director of Boston Consulting Group, said, "Italy's gas scenario between 2010-2020 will be tight and by 2030 Italy will need to import 715 bcma. Italian consumers will not be able to enjoy stable power prices without nuclear power."

Italians voted to stop the expansion of the country's nuclear program. In June 1990, the Italian Parliament approved dismantling the republic's atomic power plants, which had been closed since the Chernobyl meltdown.

Italy had only three operating nuclear plants, however; Latina, Trino Vecellese, and Caorso generated 153, 260, and 860 MW, respectively. This represented 4.6 per cent of Italy's total electrical generation in 1986. Italy is now a major importer of nuclear-fuelled electricity from France.

"With nuclear you can have a stable supply with low prices, less dependence on other countries and improved environmental performance," said Monti.

Italy relies on gas for over 50 per cent of its power generation compared to a worldwide average of around 15 per cent. Oil is another important feedstock to the power sector but with worldwide reserves being depleted, Piero Manzoni, CEO of Atel Energia argued that other technologies must be embraced including renewable technologies and nuclear power."The majority of Italians would still be opposed to nuclear power generation but it is the only possible solution," said Manzoni.

Alessandro Clerici, Honorary President of the World Energy Council- Italy, backed the proporsition, "Italy is inceasingly relying on gas, which is a pricy and problematic fuel, so as an industry we must look at the nuclear alternative."

Francesco Starace, director of the market division of Enel, described himself as, "an unemployed nuclear engineer" and focused on the need to reduce CO2 emissions. "There is a great deal of opposition to coal fired power plants. We must look to nuclear power for the solution." He favoured the route Finland has taken in encouraging a consortium of private companies to put forward plans to develop a new nuclear reactor plant. "We need to re-educate the young generation whose grandmothers have encouraged them to associate nuclear power with the events in Hiroshima and Nagasaki."

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