Energy and Nuclear Transition: Industrial Policy Amidst Opportunities and Risks

The energy transition is now a priority for governments around the world, which are converging in supporting the increasing use of renewable energy sources. The picture is much more controversial, however, when it comes to identifying the role that nuclear energy can play in achieving a sustainable energy future. While some countries seem to have firmly embraced the use of nuclear energy as a (albeit transitory) means of achieving carbon neutrality, others refuse to take the same path or plan to abandon it, even in the face of persistent dissent from their own communities. This paper aims first and foremost to give an account of the current debate on the subject. This subject has recently come back into the limelight in the wake of the Russian- Ukrainian conflict, which has highlighted situations of heavy dependence on energy supplies. The context within which any policy decisions (whether oriented towards a progressive adoption or towards a reduction or total exclusion) and industrial policy choices aimed at the sector are made cannot be separated from the consideration of the demand for such policies and from a careful and complete analysis of all the aspects that are intertwined in the issue, from the technical ones to the legislative, environmental, economic, social and financial ones.