FACTBOX-Italy backs law for nuclear revival

July 9 (Reuters) - Italy's parliament backed measures on Thursday to relaunch a nuclear energy sector it quit two decades ago, but experts said the government faced an uphill struggle to find funds and sites for new plants. [ID:nL9243744]

Below are details of the measures which are part of a broader law on development and energy as well as some facts about nuclear energy in Italy:

* The government has six months after the law comes into force to set rules for selecting sites for new plants and picking their technology as well as setting requirements for construction work.

* It must come up with compensation measures for communities which agree to host plants and companies.

* A nuclear safety agency will be created to authorise new plants and guarantee respect for safety requirements, health and environmental protection.

* Italy voted in a referendum in November 1987 to shut existing nuclear plants and suspend building new ones, after the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986. Italy is the only one of the Group of Eight industrialised nations without nuclear power. * The government wants to build between eight and 10 new-generation nuclear reactors in Italy, aiming to have 25 percent of all power generated by nuclear plants. It aims to start building the first one in 2013.

* Italy's biggest power utility, Enel (ENEI.MI), said it would be ready to take part in the nuclear revival in Italy. Enel used to own all four nuclear power stations with a total capacity of about 1,400 megawatts before the ban. It turned to projects abroad, including in France and Slovakia.

* Rival Edison (EDN.MI), which is part owned by France's EDF (EDF.PA), is also keen. Germany's E.ON AG (EONGn.DE) and Italian unlisted utility Sorgenia showed interest in taking part in nuclear projects in Italy if the regulatory framework was clear.

* Public opposition to big industrial projects is strong in Italy where local authorities have a final say in a lengthy process of allowing projects on their turf. Public protests in 2003 forced Rome to scrap plans to store nuclear waste in the country's south. (Reporting by Svetlana Kovalyova; editing by Mark John)