The Intelligence Oversight Committee of the Italian Parliament has warned of the danger of European blackouts in a report issued at the end of hearings on the energy crisis.
“Soaring electricity and natural gas prices are exposing Europe to the threat of energy blackouts,” the report says. “The fear is that in a highly interconnected energy supply system such as Europe’s, the shutdown of a single power plant—for example due to a lack of fuel—could cause a chain reaction in several member states. The fear of a possible blackout is reportedly spreading throughout Europe, starting from Austria, where the Minister of Defense Klaudia Tanner has warned against the risk of a possible ‘great blackout,’ and in Spain where Iberian consumers, despite the reassurances of national institutions, have made
compulsive purchases of butane bottles, camping stoves, flashlights and batteries, exhausting the available stocks. In this context, then, the known closure of two reactors of EDF (the French nuclear power park consists of 56 uranium nuclear fission reactors, all operated by EDF) has led to a record increase in European electricity prices in view of the expected drop in
temperatures and, above all, the fact that the reactors in question account for 10% of French nuclear capacity, which exports its electricity to all neighboring countries (including Italy).”
