In the aftermath of the devastating 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union), many European countries restricted or banned nuclear energy plants. France, which did not, today produces almost 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy, making it the world’s largest net exporter of electricity. Italians, however, rejected the use of nuclear power in a referendum held in November 1987, which closed the four nuclear plants operating at the time. Since then, Italy has been dependent on imported oil and gas, making its energy prices higher than those of its European neighbours.
Soon, however, this situation may change. At the end of a bilateral summit held on February 24, 2009, Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and president of the French Republic Nicolas Sarkozy signed a cooperation agreement on nuclear energy. It involved a strategy of collaboration between the major power giants of the two countries, Italy’s Enel and France’s Edf, that would involve building in Italy four third-generation European pressurised nuclear reactors (EPRs), starting in 2020.
Long before this, in the 1960s, engineer and geologist Felice Ippolito (1915-1997) attempted to take Italy along the nuc
lear energy path. He was sentenced to 11 years of imprisonment for his effort. Ippolito completed his degree in civil engineering in 1938 and by 1959 was a professor in applied geology at the University of Naples. His interest in nuclear energy was stimulated by his research into uranium, which led, in 1952, to his appointment as director of the Comitato Nazionale per le Ricerche Nucleari (CNRN, the national committee for nuclear research), renamed in 1960, the Comitato Nazionale per l’Energia Nucleare (CNEN, the national committee for nuclear energy)
In this position, Ippolito masterminded a project for developing the nuclear power plants of Trino Vercellese, Garigliano and Latina, making Italy, at the time, the third highest producer of nuclear energy in the world. He aimed, in fact, at making the nation autonomous in terms of its energy requirements.
Powerful interests within the petroleum and electricity industries both inside and outside Italy who feared nationalisation of the sector at the time were keen to make sure that this did not happen. They began by disgracing Ippolito, taking a less violent path than whoever might have been responsible for the mysterious air crash that caused, on October 27, 1962, the death of Enrico Mattei, another pioneer lost in the cause of Italy’s energy independence. Rumours began circulating in the press about financial irregularities in Ippolito’s management of CNEN. On March 3, 1964, he was arrested, and, following a trial widely believed to be a farce, he spent two years of an 11-year sentence in prison before being pardoned by the president of the Republic. While this, in practice, brought an end to the advancement of nuclear energy production in Italy, the final nail in its coffin was the 1987 referendum.
After his release from prison, Ippolito returned to academia, founding, in 1968, the scientific journal, Le Scienze. Although he had, in 1955, together with Marco Panella, founded the left-wing Radial Party, he was elected to the European parliament in the ranks of the Italian Communist Party in 1979 and 1989. In recognition of his invaluable work as vice president of the National Scientific Commission for the Antarctica and for organising Italian research on that continent, the National Museum for Antarctica with branches in Genoa, Siena and Trieste as well as an international prize for Antarctic research were both named after him.
Today, tired of paying high oil prices and increasingly uncertain about the continuity of gas supplies from Russia, many Italians are wondering whether their energy should come from nuclear power. Even among the environmentalists, previously its staunchest critics, some now view nuclear energy as renewable energy, like wind or solar power. However, with 2020 still a way off, it appears that the Berlusconi-Sarkozy agreement may not, as yet, have won the hearts and minds of all Italians. Based on a recent statistical survey published by an Italian think-tank, a majority of 45.7 percent of Italians stated they were against the production of nuclear energy compared to 38 percent in favour. According to the report, most Italians still felt ‘anxious’ and ‘afraid’ of the apocalyptic scenes they had seen in the aftermath of Chernobyl. Of these, 27.3 percent were afraid of the ‘risks’ and 18.4 percent did not believe that nuclear power was ‘a rapid solution’ to the energy problem. Of the 30.1 percent who thought that nuclear energy was a ‘good solution’, 8.2 percent added the proviso that the plants should not be built anywhere near where they lived. That being the case, Ippolito might ask, if not in their backyards, then in whose?
Museo Nazionale dell’Antartide ‘Felice Ippolito’, instituted in 1996, is dedicated to the memory of Felice Ippolito, its first curator. It is a centre for national and international research on Antarctica. Its branch in Genoa concentrates on biology and ecology in relation to Antarctic research whereas the Siena branch focuses on the geological, climatological and environmental evolution of the continent while the Trieste branch houses exhibits on Antarctic exploration, including the Scott, Shackleton and Amundsen expeditions.
Please see www.mna.it for information on all three museums.
