Italy says it is to restart its nuclear energy programme, more than 20 years after it was scrapped by a referendum in the wake of the 1986 Chernobyl accident.

The new economic development minister Claudia Scajola said in a speech to a business group yesterday that building “a group of new-generation nuclear power plants” would reduce the country's reliance on oil and gas. He did not say in his speech when construction of a new unit might begin.

“Only nuclear can produce energy on a large scale, in a secure manner, at a competitive costs and with respect for the environment,” said Mr Scajola.

Italy needs to build a skilled nuclear workforce and to find a “credible solution” to the issue of waste disposal, he said. But the government intends to pursue new nuclear build with “conviction and determination”.

The new-build proposals are part of the campaign manifesto of Italy’s recently elected prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. Italy has no commercially operational nuclear power plants and relies heavily on imports of electricity as well as domestic fossil fuels.

The country’s one-unit Garigliano and Latina nuclear power plants were shut down in 1982 and 1987 respectively. Its remaining two units – at the Caorso and Trino nuclear plants – were closed in 1990 following the referendum.

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