At a conference of the regions, most Italian provincial leaders declared their opposition to the Berlusconi government's proposed re-opening of nuclear power in Italy. Italy held a national referendum in 1987, after the Chernobyl explosion that radioactively contaminated much of the country. Italians responded with a decisive vote to shut down Italy's three remaining operating reactors (the fourth had already closed). The provincial leader of the southern province of Basilicata - where the previous Berlusconi government attempted - and failed - to site a high-level radioactive waste dump - declared at the conference: "We are against nuclear power; it is not a positive choice and that provides no immediate results and that has a negative impact on energy choices."