Bribes will decide new reactor sites in Italy

Hardly surprising, coming from the notoriously corrupt Berlusconi government, it has been reported that municipalities willing to take a new reactor will be paid 30 million euros – 6 million for each of the five years of anticipated construction. There is no mention of what happens when the construction projects go beyond schedule (not to mention over budget). Frontrunners are mainly sites originally targeted for reactors before the entire program was shut down by national referendum in 1987 after the Chernobyl explosion. However, the Berlusconi government believes the time is right to over-turn the view of the Italian public. Environmental groups are already organizing opposition.