Italy is considering resuming the construction of nuclear power plants

 The Italian Senate has passed a law allowing the country to resume the development of nuclear energy, nearly 40 years after abandoning it.

Nuclear energy development in the country was halted following a 1987 referendum, in which Italians, alarmed by the Chernobyl disaster, voted to reject this form of power generation.

Authorities had previously attempted to revive the nuclear sector in 2011, but the initiative failed to gain public support in a referendum following the accident at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.