The French utility, Electricite de France, will lead the revival of nuclear power in Italy through a joint venture with Italian energy company, Enel. Italy's three operating reactors (the fourth was already closed) were shuttered in 1987 after a national referendum, in large part a response to the Chernobyl accident. Italians experienced the deadly fallout from Chernobyl and endured restrictions on fresh food consumption and outside activities because of the radioactive contamination caused by the Ukraine reactor disaster.
The Berlusconi government passed a new law last month that effectively overturned the will of the Italian people expressed in the 1987 referendum.