France’s Framatome has established a branch in Italy with offices in Milan and Turin. Italian employees “will support the existing fleet and contribute to the development of nuclear energy in Europe from their home country”. This follows on from the cooperation agreement for scientific and technological research and training in the field of nuclear energy, signed in July by Framatome, Edison and Politecnico di Milano.
The agreement provided for pooling of technical knowledge and expertise in order to jointly develop research, development and innovation activities for the nuclear sector. It envisaged joint projects through internships, master’s degree and doctoral dissertations, seminars, workshops and other similar initiatives on technical topics of mutual interest. It will also provide for the organisation of meetings and training courses as well as visits for students and their respective employees to Framatome’s production sites and plants and the Politecnico di Milano’s and Edison’s research laboratories.
Framatome CEO Bernard Fontana said creation of the Italian branch marks a new step in he company’s long-standing cooperation with Italy. “Framatome has been hiring talented Italian engineers in France for over 40 years. This branch offers engineers the possibility of working in Italy, while contributing to the development of low carbon energy.”
Framatome Senior Executive Vice President Human Resources Elisabeth Terrail said Framatome is hiring 2,500 people a year around the world to support current and future projects. “Prestigious Italian schools such as Politecnico di Milano, Politecnico di Torino and CIRTEN universities offer excellent courses in nuclear engineering, for both training and research, and their graduates constitute an important talent pipeline to develop long-term skills for the nuclear industry,” she noted.
Italy was a leading nuclear power-producing country in the 1960s but chose to phase out its four nuclear plants after a 1987 referendum following the Chernobyl disaster. It closed its last two operating plants, Caorso and Trino Vercellese, in 1990. The fourth Berlusconi government attempted to launch a new nuclear power programme but that was also rejected by a referendum in 2011, shortly after the Fukushima accident.
However, in May 2023, the Italian Parliament approved a motion urging the government to consider incorporating nuclear power into the energy mix. The following September, the first meeting was held of the National Platform for a Sustainable Nuclear, set up to consider the possible resumption of nuclear energy in Italy.
The government included potential new nuclear capacity in its National Integrated Energy & Climate Plan, which was submitted to the European Commission in July.
