nuclear-news

Italy goes to vote, with nuclear issue in mind

Italians vote on nuclear, water policies, Google News By COLLEEN BARRY, Associated Press – 11 June 11 MILAN (AP) — Premier Silvio Berlusconi would rather Italians head to the beach and not to the polls this weekend.

Referendums on the ballot Sunday and Monday seek to block the Italian leader’s plans to revive nuclear energy and privatize the water supply. Another would throw out a law that gives Berlusconi and other top officials some protection from prosecution.

In the face of the government’s attempt to delegitimize the referendums, campaigners are going to lengths to boost turnout above the 51-percent majority needed to validate the vote, a quorum not reached in Italy since 1995 in more than 20 attempts.

Nuns and priests held a fast to protest against the privatization of water and anti-Berlusconi social networking campaigns have been spreading the word to vote.

If a quorum is to be reached, it will likely to be due to the fresh memories of the March 11 nuclear disaster in Japan, triggered by the powerful quake and resulting tsunami.

Italy, also a seismically active country, shut down its nuclear power program in a 1987 referendum following the Chernobyl disaster. Although the referendum was legally binding for only five years, its political staying power proved more durable. Berlusconi pledged in 2009 to revive nuclear power …….

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jc8f64FqRdHw4lyc7rx–EFRfG7g?docId=b70264b1519247ff995a06bf8aaeb7ee

June 11, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Italy, politics