Loan For Nuclear Power: Number 034 Originally Published: August 2003
Loan For Nuclear Power: Number 034 Originally Published: August 2003
Loan For Nuclear Power: Number 034 Originally Published: August 2003
NUMBER 034
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: AUGUST 2003
January 2016
The World Bank Group Archives Exhibit Series contains exhibits originally published on
the Archives’ external website beginning in 2002. When the Archives’ website was
transferred to a new platform in 2015, it was decided that older exhibits would be
converted to pdf format and made available as a series on the World Bank’s external
database, Documents & Reports.
These exhibits, authored by World Bank archivists, highlight key events, personalities,
and publications in the history of the World Bank. They also bring attention to some of
the more fascinating archival records contained in the Archives’ holdings.
To view current exhibits, visit the Exhibits page on the Archives’ website.
Loan for Nuclear Power
It is a little known fact that the World Bank financed a nuclear power plant. On
September 16, 1959, the Bank made a loan equivalent to $40 million for the
construction of a 150,000 kilowatt atomic power plant in Italy (Loan 0235). This was
Italy’s first nuclear power plant, and the Bank’s loan financed almost two-thirds of the
cost of construction. The project also included civil works, a substation and about 60
miles of transmission lines.
b) The nuclear plant would have to be located in a country with relatively high fossil fuel
costs, with poor hydroelectric potential, and with sufficient availability of capital so that
relatively low-cost money could be obtained.
d) Power rates in the system into which the plant would be connected should be flexible
enough so that if the nuclear plant should cost more than expected or should not
perform as anticipated, the excess cost could be absorbed without a significant adverse
effect.
e) Until further operational experience had been obtained, it would not be prudent to
establish the nuclear plant in a system where it would represent a considerable
proportion of the total system generating capacity.
At the 1956 Annual Meetings the Bank sponsored a panel discussion entitled Atomic
Energy in Economic Development. The panel consisted of a group of international
experts on atomic energy, and was moderated by the Bank’s Adviser on Atomic Energy,
Corbin Allardice.
c) By providing these facts and the judgment on them of qualified nuclear specialists,
the study would assist the Italians in selecting for construction the plant which seemed
to have most merit taking all factors into consideration.
An International Panel was set up by the Bank to provide advice and guidance on the
nuclear aspects of the Project ENSI study. The Panel consisted of seven experts in the
field of nuclear energy selected by the Bank from four countries on the advice of the
official nuclear agencies of those countries. In
addition to providing general guidance to the study,
the Panel had the responsibility for making a
review and evaluation of international tenders for
the power station and for preparation of a report,
particularly regarding cost and performance, which
would be made available to the Italian utility
company which would build and operate the
nuclear station.
A Working Group was established in Rome, under the direction of the President of
SENN, which included Italian personnel drawn from SENN, from its shareholding
companies, from other Italian utilities and from the Comitato, together with personnel
from SENN's two nuclear engineering consultant firms, Internuclear Company of
Clayton, Missouri, USA, and Kennedy & Donkin of London, England.