The Italian and French energy firms ENEL and EDF signed an accord for the construction in Italy of at least four European pressurised water nuclear reactors (EPRs) as part of an overall nuclear cooperation accord.

The accord covers a first Italian nuclear plant to be operational by 2020, ENEL said in a statement.

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and French President Nicolas Sarkozy signed the cooperation pact, which covers research and waste treatment as well as the construction of nuclear power plants.

"France, with great generosity is opening to us -- and let us recall that they can meet 80 percent of their energy needs with nuclear power -- a source of clean energy using a safe system," Berlusconi told a news conference.

"The future of renewable energy is in nuclear power," he added.

Sarkozy said: "We want nuclear energy to become a European issue" because it represents "the key to development."

The Berlusconi government announced shortly after taking office in May 2008 that it would begin building nuclear power stations to solve the country's dependence on foreign oil and gas supplies.

The ban on nuclear power followed a 1987 referendum in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine, a year earlier.

The country's four nuclear plants operating at the time were shut down.

Italy depends on foreign sources for 87 percent of its energy needs. Oil accounts for 43 percent and gas 36 percent of its energy use.

Italian Economic Development Minister Claudio Scajola said in October that Italy made a "terrible mistake" in phasing out nuclear power, costing more than 50 billion euros (63 billion dollars) "if you count direct and indirect costs."

No EPR reactors, described as incorporating all recent advances in safety, environmental protection, technical and economic performance, are yet in operation.

Environmental group Greenpeace said in January that it had evidence that nuclear waste from the EPR would be up to seven times more hazardous than waste produced by existing nuclear reactors.

The ENEL statement said the project would go forward "when the legislative and technical process to enable a return to nuclear power in Italy is complete."

Reacting to the accord, the Italian Communist Party (PdCI) said Berlusconi "was trampling on the (1987) referendum and snubbing his nose at parliament itself."

"The will expressed by the Italian people 21 years ago cannot be ignored so lightly, so brazenly," said Claudio Saroufim, a PdCI environmentalist.

Alfiero Grandi, an economist member of the Democratic Left party, told the ANSA news agency that the accord "masked a serious political, economic and safety mistake affecting people and the environment."

Grandi, the party's former deputy secretary, added: "In other countries like the United States the direction is very different, focussing on energy from renewable sources."

The far left lost all representation in parliament in last year's elections, and Berlusconi enjoys comfortable majorities in both chambers.

Opponents to nuclear power would have to obtain 500,000 signatures on a petition to stage a new referendum at a time when public opinion has shifted considerably from just a few years ago.

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