Tennessee valley in Southern Italy: How the ENSI project was the first and only World Bank loan for nuclear power

The ENSI project was a joint study between the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Italian government for the construction of a nuclear power station in the South of Italy at the end of the 1950s. Garigliano nuclear power plant is unique in terms of energy, politics and finance because it was intended to be an international model, both in technology and operating procedures, for the construction of other nuclear power stations around the world. Matters related to the Garigliano power station, its construction and entry into operation, have to be contextualised in the complex scenario of the Italian nuclear policy of those years dominated by a clear split between the interests of the private and public spheres.