London (Platts)--25Jan2011/729 am EST/1229 GMT
The French and Italian nuclear safety authorities are to sign an agreement as part of a state-level drive for further cooperation on nuclear energy, the office of French energy/industry minister Eric Besson said late Monday. The decision was taken during Besson's visit to Italy last Thursday and Friday, his ministry said, and reflects the countries' aim to achieve "global cooperation" in civil nuclear that is "without limits." "The construction of four EPRs in Italy by a joint venture between [French] EDF and [Italian] Enel, as well as the participation of Enel in reactor projects in France, have been reaffirmed," according to the ministry. Besson will contribute, alongside the French nuclear sector, to the public debate in Italy on the country's return to nuclear energy, the statement added. France and Italy last April signed eight agreements in the field of nuclear energy, linking companies, agencies and universities during a Franco-Italian summit in Paris. One of the agreements, between EDF, Enel and Ansaldo Energia, part of Italy's Finnmecanica group, aims to increase Italian industry's participation in the construction of third-generation EPRs, or European pressurized water reactors, in Italy and third countries and came after the signing of an earlier EDF-Enel MOU to construct at least four EPR units in Italy. Italian President Silvio Berlusconi has underlined the importance of reintroducing nuclear power to Italy following the abandonment of its earlier nuclear program in 1987 but has said that the country needs to "convince" those citizens who voted for nuclear phase out by referendum in the 1980s.--Anna Crowley, anna_crowley@platts.comSimilar stories appear in Nucleonics Week. See more information at http://bit.ly/NucleonicsWeek