Fifty years ago, at the ’76 Milan Fair, Enel celebrated atomic energy as a solution to the crisis. Here is the story of what happened to the Donat-Cattin Plan and the 20 planned power plants
In 1976 the effects of the global oil crisis triggered three years earlier by the Yom Kippur War were still being felt worryingly. The increase in the price of oil and its derivatives had heavily eroded the growth of economies and Western governments, not least the Italian one, were frantically searching for alternative energy sources to black gold.
Nuclear energy was considered one of the frontiers that countries relied on most. THE’Italysince the previous decade (which saw the birth of the national company Enel since the nationalization of private companies) had found itself at the forefront of research and development of atomic energy. Since 1964 three first generation power plants were in operation on the national territory: those of Borgo Sabotino (Latin), by Sessa Aurunca (Caserta) e Trino Vercellese (Vercelli), with the reactors built by Ansaldo under license General Electric.
The Donat-Cattin Plan and the ambition of the central twenty
The fourth and most advanced power station had been under construction since 1971 Caorso (Piacenza), and in the same period the National Energy Plan of 1975 (known as Donat-Cattin plan from the surname of the Minister of Industry) by agreement between the government, Enel And Cnen (Then Aeneas) should have led to the construction of 20 nuclear power plants in Italy in 10 years. Heavy industry andEni were involved, with the latter having to deal with the transformation of theUranium French through an agreement with Edfwhile large companies like Ansaldo they had already developed excellent know-how thanks to the numerous orders obtained abroad.
In short, the time seemed ripe in that spring of 1976 when the annual opened Milan Trade Faira showcase event for the Italian industry. THE’Enel presented itself with an informative pavilion dedicated mainly to atomic energy, particularly designed to raise awareness among the millions of visitors of that 54th edition, opened shortly after a conference at theLincean Academy where the president of Enel Arnaldo Maria Angelini indicated in the growing demand for energy in the last year the sign of an industrial recovery on the way, underlining how the growth in fuel oil prices for industry had weighed on the recovery (800 billion lire), complaining about the delays in the construction of the other two power plants (Caorso And Montalto di Castro ed) and the growing costs for their implementation.
BWR technology and the promise of absolute safety
The “enfant terrible of the DC” minister used the pavilion Enel to underline the intention to unblock large public contracts for nuclear power in front of sector operators, not far from the model made in every detail of the future power plant Caorsoequipped with a second generation light water and slightly depleted uranium type reactor Bwr (Boiling water reactor). In the large information panels of the pavilion the exaltation of nuclear energy as a solution to dependence on oil, as a clean, efficient, alternative source and above all described as absolutely safe.
After the “radiant” days of the Fair, however, the history of Italian nuclear power, which then seemed to project the country among the top three producers of energy from atomic fission, was peppered with obstacles of various kinds, which in a very short time will put an end to alternative energy to oil and other imported sources. If the central Caorso will see the light (albeit with delay) in 1981, that of Montalto di Castrostarted in 1982, will never come into operation with serious loss for Enel. Furthermore, local politics played an oppositional role, with clashes over the location of areas destined for nuclear power which further slowed down the march of the Italian atom.
From Three Mile Island to Chernobyl sunset
Accidents at nuclear plants abroad were then decisive. On March 28, 1979, a serious accident occurred at the power station Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania, where a core meltdown risked catastrophe, which was only avoided because the containment structures held. But panic also spread to Europe, where movements against atomic energy were born at the same time. In the meantime, in 1978, the power station had been stopped Garigliano to Sessa Aurunca for maintenance. The little remaining life of the plant and the fear of locating the plant in a seismic area after the 1980 earthquake decreed its decommissioning in 1982.
1986, exactly a decade after that edition of the Milan Fair dedicated to the achievements of nuclear power, it was theannus terribles for atomic energy, with the accident at the nuclear power plant Chernobyl in Ukraine. The following year a referendum put an end to Italian nuclear power and all Italian power plants were stopped and subsequently dismantled.
