Enel: nuclear power is far away, if at all

Rome, June 24. The CEO of Enel, Fulvio Conti hosted a radio show on Italian Radio One where he threw cold water on the hopes of Prime Minister Berisha to turn Albania into a nuclear country. “We think we have all the necessary guarantees to be able to increase our presence in that market [in Albania], also through nuclear investments, but in the very long term. Nothing is planned at the moment”, Conti said.
Berisha and his advisers continue to insist that an Italian company is interested in building a nuclear power plant in Albania. However, first Camozzi and now Enel have denied they have any concrete plans to build a nuclear facility in Albania.
Conti reiterated that the attraction of nuclear power lies in its numbers. “It cost more as an initial investment, but in the end the cost is lower because the raw material costs much less than other materials”, added Conti. Conti noted that the total cost, including the treatment of the spent fuel, is Euro 50 per megawatt-hours, compared to Euro 80-90 per megawatt-hours if gas is used to fuel the furnaces.
Nevertheless, Conti declared that Enel is “working with the Albanian government for the construction of a coal power plant”. Early this June, Conti had a meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha to discuss the construction of a power plant with an installed output of 600 to 1,400 MW. Conti did not reveal how far his company has developed these plans. Enel is competing with the Greek state-owned PPC and German RWE to build a coal-fuelled power plant in Porto Romano. Prime Minister Berisha also met with representatives of PPC in June. (Tirana Times Staff)