“Giorgia Meloni has long pitched nuclear energy as a cure for Italy’s wilting economy. Now her government is plotting how to actually resurrect the banned technology.

Almost 40 years after Italy shuttered its last nuclear reactor — and 15 years after a failed attempt to reverse that decision — the prime minister’s team is consulting experts and holding discussions on how to restart atomic energy production, according to people familiar with the planning.

Italian officials have traveled to Canada to explore technology designs, and spoken to French officials about their nuclear industry, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The government has also internally discussed South Korean and US options, they added.

For Meloni, the campaign is central to her promise to help companies sagging under Italy’s elevated energy prices.”

From Bloomberg.

“Outside Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, a vast area of desert is being carpeted with solar panels.

While this sight is more and more familiar around the world, the Round-The-Clock project, developed by Emirati company Masdar, is on a different scale. By combining the solar array with a massive amount of battery capacity, the aim is to store enough power generated during daylight hours so that a minimum of 1 GW of electricity – enough to power between 500,000 and one million homes – is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

This will help to address one of ​the critical flaws with solar power – its intermittency. What is the point of pouring billions of dollars into solar farms, critics have often asked, when they are unable to deliver power when the sun is not shining?

The RTC project ‌aims to answer this question by proving it is feasible to store enough electricity to guarantee a constant supply.”

From Reuters.

“A start-up company wants to light up the night with 50,000 big mirrors orbiting Earth, bouncing sunlight to the night side of the planet to power solar farms after sunset, provide lighting for rescue workers and illuminate city streets, among other things…

It is an idea seemingly out of a sci-fi movie, but the company, Reflect Orbital of Hawthorne, Calif., could soon receive permission to launch its first prototype satellite with a 60-foot-wide mirror. The company has applied to the Federal Communications Commission, which issues the licenses needed to deploy satellites.

If the F.C.C. approves, the test satellite could get a ride into orbit as soon as this summer.”

From New York Times.

“The Department of Energy has made public a set of new rules that slash environmental and security requirements for experimental nuclear reactors.

Last month, NPR reported on the existence of the rules, which were quietly rewritten to accelerate development of a new generation of nuclear reactor designs.

The rule changes came about after President Trump signed an executive order calling for three or more of the experimental reactors to come online by July 4 of this year — an incredibly tight deadline in the world of nuclear power. The order led to the creation of a new Reactor Pilot Program at the Department of Energy.”

From NPR.