Press & Media

Rome, 21 October 2009 

Finmeccanica presents the book "Ansaldo Nucleare: from watchdog to industrial reality. Trading the past to write the future"

On the occasion of the Rome International Film Festival, the book "Ansaldo Nucleare: from watchdog to industrial reality. Recounting the past to write the future", edited by the Institutional Relations Office of Ansaldo Energia SpA, was presented at the Parco Della Musica Auditorium in Rome.
 
Through the testimonies and opinions of key players, the book covers the last twenty years of Italy's nuclear industry, in which companies of the Finmeccanica group were heavily involved: it looks at the creation in 1957 of Italy's first nuclear research centre, Finmeccanica's entry into the nuclear industry, and the giant steps forward that made Italy of the 1960s one of the three or four most advanced industrialised countries in the world. 
 
The 1987 referendum marked the end of an era, but interest in nuclear energy remained, with the creation of a nuclear division in Finmeccanica and then in Ansaldo Energia, which led to the development of new safer plant models and the identification of a niche for the Group in building plants abroad.

Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, Chairman and CEO of Finmeccanica, commented: "Italy's return to the generation of energy from nuclear fission does not seem as much an option as a natural choice, if we wish to ensure the competitiveness of our industry and an adequate standard of living for Italian citizens. 
 
Italian industry, in particular Finmeccanica with Ansaldo Energia, maintained technologies and experience even after 1987, the year of the referendum, working both in Italy and abroad - suffice it to remember the Cernavoda Nuclear Power Station in Romania, that began commercial operation on October 5, 2007 - and is ready to take part in the new programs of our Country."

The book presentation was attended by Pier Francesco Guarguaglini, Chairman and CEO of Finmeccanica, the Honourable Stefano Saglia, Undersecretary of State for Economic Development, Antonio Costato, Vice-chairman of Confindustria and Riccardo Casale, Chairman of Iride Energia (previously scientific officer at the European Commission). The debate was chaired by RAI journalist Stefano Ziantoni.