The plan for the Italian nuclear power
A project which, in the ideas of the government of Giorgia Meloni, cannot ignore the development of nuclear energy. Silvio Berlusconi also thought so when as premier he had supported an agreement between the French duo Edf -Areva and theEnel for the construction of new generation nuclear reactors in our country through the company Nuclear Development Italy. Then everything faded into thin air after the Fukushima accident.
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And, perhaps, judging by the times and costs of construction of the third generation systems, it wasn’t such a serious evil. With the war between Russia and Ukraine, the flare-ups in energy prices the issue is topical again and there are already those who are ready to bet on nuclear energy in Italy. Not without making good profits both in the construction of the plants and in the subsequent management and sale of energy.
Technology is now concentrated in the hands of a few groups
There are less than a dozen companies that build plants for the production of nuclear energy. Naturally, none of these is Italian, given that our country said goodbye to nuclear power with a referendum in 1987. On the other hand, the Old Continent dominates Not now, the former Areva, a company controlled by the French state. This company will also be at the center of the nuclear energy recovery plan in France announced by the president on February 10th Emmanuel Macron.
The project envisages the construction of six EPR2-type nuclear reactors by 2050. Orano has always been interested in Italy, which it sees as its natural outlet market. But the two US companies also compete with it General Electrics e Westinghouseas well as the Japanese Toshiba e Hitachi. Until before the war, Orano was then in partnership with the Russian Rosatom. But the conflict has changed the cards on the table.
New generation systems will soon arrive
There are 442 nuclear reactors on earth today, spread across twenty-nine countries. As many as 148 plants are in sixteen European countries. In 80% of cases they are pressurized water reactors, a technology that has existed for many years with all the improvements on the safety system, classified as generation 3+. The most advanced technology is that used by Oreno in Lower Normandy, in Flamanville, which is then the same that came into operation in Finland. Today some states still focus on these types of reactors which are large plants of over a thousand megawatts.
But the novelty of the moment that could change the cards on the table is a new class of nuclear reactors with new technological characteristics and business models different from those of the plants in use. To overcome the theme of high costs and long lead times, the Small modular reactor, which are small reactors, rated up to 200 megawatts and modular. That is, they are built in the workshop instead of on site and are therefore made in controlled and sheltered environments to then be assembled on the site intended to house the plant.
So far, only China and Russia have been built, but others will soon arrive because the Small modular reactots are also decidedly interesting for private investors given that the cost is one-seventh that of a large plant where, however, economies of scale play in favor. It is no coincidence that various companies are springing up that want to grow in this business such as, for example, Newcleowhich is based in London, but has an international development center in Turin and some activities in Bologna.
The costs remain exorbitant
To build a structure like that of Flamaville, decidedly important investments are required which require having a public shareholder behind both due to the time and cost of construction. Added to this is the issue of permissions. For the Flamanville plant, Orano had planned approximately 3.3 billion in investments to build the plant in six years. Instead, it took more than 15 billion and over 16 years of work to complete the project. However, there are also smaller reactors,
Not only. There are also other so to speak “hidden” costs. Witness Oran, which has a turnover of around 4 billion and built France’s 58 nuclear reactors. He closed 2022 with a net loss of 377 million, against a profit of 678 million recorded in the previous year.
According to official sources, the deficit in the balance sheet is not linked, at least directly, to the group’s core business but rather to the “fall of the financial markets” on some positions taken to cover expenditure future decommissioning of old nuclear power plants and radioactive waste management. Translated, the overall cost of the plants, including disposal, is decidedly higher than that incurred solely for the development of the plant. Clearly the figure is lower for Small nuclear reactors.
Enel is already in the game in Slovakia
In mid-February, Slovenske Elektrarne, in which the Enel group is a shareholder together with the Slovakian state, ignited the new nuclear reactor at the Mochovce plant in Slovakia. The 471 megawatt plant reduces methane consumption by $640 million of cubic meters and was wanted by the government to reduce the country’s dependence along the path of greater energy independence. The pressurized water plant will also export energy to Germany, a country that has decided to abandon nuclear power and has declared that it will close the last three plants within the month of October.
Furthermore, the group led by Francesco Starace already has a long experience in the sector through the Spanish branch Endesa and remains to date the only Italian company that manages nuclear plants through the two foreign subsidiaries. However, it must be said that the company that manages the nuclear power plants beyond the Alps is also present in our country, Edfcontrolled by the French state and owner of Edison. Then there is also the Spanish ibredrola which is the largest producer of nuclear energy in the Iberian Peninsula.
Eni focuses on merger
The six-legged dog, on the other hand, has just signed a new technological cooperation agreement which intends to accelerate the industrialization of fusion energy. The target? The creation of a pilot plant which sees ENI at the forefront alongside the MIT spin-out Commonwealth Fusion Systems in which the Italian company is a shareholder with a 19 percent stake.
The goal is decidedly ambitious: to complete the experimental project in Devens, Massachusetts, by 2025 which for fusion is based on a magnetic confinement technology. Sparc will be the prototype for Arc, the first grid-capable industrial fusion power plant expected to arrive in the next decade and cost 800 million dollars.