nuclear-news

94% vote against nuclear energy in Italy’s referendum

a historic result. …The expected majority against nuclear power was 94%……The outcome was a huge success for the anti-nuclear movement in the world’s first nationwide vote on the issue since Japan’s Fukushima disaster….”The era of nuclear [energy] is coming to an end today….”

Berlusconi’s nuclear power plans crushed Referendums see huge votes against PM’s plans – a second setback in under two weeks John Hooper in Rome,guardian.co.uk,   13 June 2011  The anti-nuclear movement won a crushing victory in Italy on Monday when well over 90% of voters rejected Silvio Berlusconi‘s plans for a return to nuclear power generation.

The result represented an overwhelming setback for the prime minister, who had tried to thwart the outcome by discouraging Italians from taking part. The referendum needed a turnout of at least 50% to be binding. Interior ministry figures projections indicated that more than 57% of the electorate had taken part. Greenpeace called it a historic result. Quorums were also reached in three other referendums held simultaneously – the first time in 16 years that a quorum had been achieved in any referendum in Italy….The expected majority against nuclear power was 94%……

Acknowledging defeat even before the polls closed, Berlusconi said: “We shall probably have to say goodbye to nuclear [energy].” He told a press conference in Rome that his government would now throw all its energy into developing renewable sources. The outcome was a huge success for the anti-nuclear movement in the world’s first nationwide vote on the issue since Japan’s Fukushima disaster….

Italy abandoned its nuclear programme following a similar referendum in 1987. The government of the day opted to phase out all the country’s existing plants. The last one shut down in 1990. Berlusconi had planned to generate a quarter of Italy’s electricity with French-built nuclear plants. Construction of the first was due to start between 2013 and 2015.

Vittorio Cogliati Dezza, president of the environmental organisation Legambiente, said: “The era of nuclear [energy] is coming to an end today. Definitively. A new season of development for the country is beginning.”
Berlusconi’s nuclear power plans crushed | World news | The Guardian

June 14, 2011 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Italy, politics