(ANSA) - Rome, February 8 - Opposition to nuclear power in Italy is based on prejudice, unjustified fear and suspicion, according to the head of the Italian electricity utility ENEL.

"Nuclear power is cleaner, safer and more socially responsible. It is part of the solution to move towards greater independence and is friendly to the environment," ENEL's chief executive officer Fulvio Conti said at a roundtable discussion here.

According to the ENEL chief, people are worried about nuclear power "because they don't know enough about it and it is up to us to inform and educate these people".

Conti went on to argue that "there is not one single technology which can allow us to meet our needs, not even renewable energy. And nuclear power is certainly not in contrast with developing these alternative energy sources".

Solar, energy and other natural energy sources, the ENEL CEO observed, "depend on nature, which is a somewhat erratic distributor of these sources and thus cannot guarantee meeting energy demands 24 hours a day, 30 days a month and 365 days a year".

This is why we need a mix of energy sources which also includes nuclear power," Conti said.

"Not accepting nuclear power is not good politicy. There is no opposition to it within the government, only among individual politicians," he added Also taking part in the roundtable was Environment Minister Stefania Prestigiacomo who said a return to nuclear power "is not an easy path, considering we are practically starting from square one".

"The government is strongly committed to this goal, in particular the environment ministry, which is one of the two pillars supporting the nuclear security agency. It's not going to be easy but we're working on it and working together," she added.

Industry Minister Claudio Scajola on Monday announced that the cabinet on Wednesday will meet to definitively approve the guidelines and criteria to be used in choosing sites for future nuclear power plants.

Speaking on a morning TV news show, the minister added that ''from that moment on the construction companies will be able to choose the most adequate sites and once this is done I think within two years the necessary authorisations should be granted.

Italy abandoned nuclear power in 1987 after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster and is now the only leading western power without it. Last summer the Italian parliament gave its green light to a return to nuclear power through which Italy hopes to cover 25% of its energy needs in the future.

ENEL has said that if the guidelines were approved in the first half of 2010 it could pick its first site by October 2010 with actual construction beginning in July 2015 Based on this timetable, the utility said it expected to have its first new nuclear power plant up and running by July 2020 and that the other plants it planned to build with French partner EdF would open after intervals of 18 months from July 2020 for a total of four reactors in three plants. A year ago Italy and France struck an accord to cooperate in the production of nuclear energy using the advanced third-generation European Pressurized Reactor (EPR) technology developed by EdF. The agreement calls for the building of at least four nuclear reactor plants in Italy, using French technology, and the participation of Italian electricity utility ENEL in the construction of another five plants in France. In September, Italy and the United States signed a five-year agreement for the development of 12 new-generation nuclear power plants in Italy and there is an option to extend the accord another five years.