There was a referendum on nuclear power in Italy a few days ago. The voters overwhelmingly rejected re-opening or building new nuclear plants. This has been big news in Japan, but I have not seen much about in the U.S. press. Here is a short article about it:
Italian voters overwhelmingly reject nuclear power 14 June 2011 | 08:12 | FOCUS News Agency Rome. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has acknowledged defeat in opposition-backed referendums aimed at blocking the revival of nuclear energy and abolishing a law exempting government ministers from attending trials against them, the Voice of America reports. Mr. Berlusconi said Monday the government will accept the clear result of the vote on the four referendums. The other two involved plans to privatize Italy's water utilities. Official results released Tuesday showed that nearly 95 percent of those who turned out rejected plans to return to nuclear power. The final results show a 57 percent voter turnout, which exceeds the 50 percent quorum needed to validate the vote. Even before the polls had closed, Mr. Berlusconi conceded that Italy “probably” would have to give up plans to return to nuclear energy and commit itself to renewable energy. Mr. Berlusconi's government proposed last year to restart nuclear power plants, but then put the plan on hold following the nuclear disaster at Japan's Fukushima plant in March. Italy's nuclear plants were shut down in 1987 after a similar referendum. - Jed
