(Daily360.com) – As the majority of the West pushes their populations into the direction of green energy, Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni is reversing course in her nation. The Italian Parliament is backing Meloni who is looking to bring the option of nuclear power back to Italy for the first time since the nation’s 1987 ban on the technology following the Chernobyl meltdown in Ukraine.
Meloni is projecting her nation will generate massive amounts more power by the year 2050. Moreover, Meloni has been critical of Italy’s participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) which they signed on to back in 2019. That agreement offers Italy a chance to leave it after five years, stabilizing energy needs with less reliance on China could be part of her plan.
Other European nations like Germany have been closing their nuclear power plants in the name of ‘green energy’ despite nuclear not emitting carbon which is the main target of green policy. Since Germany shuttered their nuclear plants citizens have seen their costs rise and the nation has become more reliant on Russian natural gas too meet their needs. Many German companies have had to close or relocate due to the rise in energy costs, forcing a dip in the German GDP.
In the United States, Congress has been passing bills since 2018 to develop more nuclear energy facilities. In the five years since there has been little movement but in February the Nuclear Innovation Alliance (NIA) released a draft to address Nuclear Regulatory Barriers regarding plant licensing.
In response to this draft a bi-partisan group of Senators moved forward the ADVANCE Act (Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy) to try and move past the licensing barriers. A major issue for a US company looking to build a factory is upfront costs. The government charges $290 per hour to analyze applications. It is estimated that even small test reactors require roughly 18,000 hours of review.
Copyright 2023, Daily360.com
