Four decades after Chernobyl, Lazio's nuclear past shapes Italy's energy future

Four decades after the Chernobyl disaster turned an entire generation of Italians against nuclear power, the debate has returned — and the former nuclear plant in Latina, a coastal city south of Rome, has become a physical symbol of the divide, the Associated Press reports.

Viviana Cruciani, who oversees the decommissioning of the Latina plant, showed the AP's Rome correspondent the old control room, its dials and consoles still in place. The site is one of several closed after Italy voted to phase out nuclear power in a 1987 referendum held in the wake of the Chernobyl catastrophe.

Today, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's government is drafting legislation to allow the construction of small modular reactors (SMRs), a technology backers say is safer and more flexible than the large plants of the past. The bill is expected to reach parliament later this year.

The generational shift is central to the story, according to the AP. Younger Italians, who have no direct memory of the Chernobyl cloud that drifted over the Alps in 1986, are significantly more open to nuclear energy than their parents and grandparents. Polling cited by the wire suggests that a slim majority of under-35s now support restarting atomic generation, while opposition remains strong among older cohorts.

For Lazio, the debate carries specific weight. The Latina plant, built in the early 1960s, sits on the Tyrrhenian coast in a region that hosts the national government, the Vatican and a dense network of small and medium industries. The decommissioning process has already cost hundreds of millions of euros and is expected to continue for years. A push for new reactors — even the smaller SMRs — could transform the local economy, but also revive environmental concerns that have simmered since the 1987 vote.

The Meloni government has not fixed a timeline for the legislation, the AP reports, but energy security arguments have gained traction since Russia's invasion of Ukraine disrupted European gas supplies. Italy remains heavily dependent on imported natural gas for electricity generation, and the government argues that carbon-free nuclear capacity could help meet EU climate targets.

Environmental groups and some local authorities in Lazio have signalled they will resist any new construction near the capital. The AP notes that any new plant would require extensive regulatory approvals and site assessments — a process that could take a decade or more. For now, the debate remains at the legislative stage, but the presence of Latina's cooling towers on the coast gives Lazio a tangible stake in the outcome.