Transition

ENEA in the European Industrial Alliance on Small Modular Smr Reactors

The initiative launched by the European Commission in February 2024 aims at the deployment of the new technology from 2030 onwards

11 June 2024

2' min read

Technology
Applications

2' min read

The research agency Enea has joined the European Industrial Alliance on Small Modular Reactors (Smr), the initiative launched by the European Commission in February 2024 with the aim of accelerating the development and deployment of small modular reactors in Europe in the early 2030s. Not only that, Enea has also joined the European Snetp (Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform) network on sustainable nuclear technologies, which promotes 'safety, reliability and efficiency of civil nuclear power'.

The technology

'As emerges from several EU policy documents,' stresses Alessandro Dodaro, director of ENEA's Nuclear Department, 'Smr can contribute to a 90% reduction in carbon emissions by 2040 and, at the same time, increase strategic autonomy and resilience.

One of the goals of the Alliance is to foster and coordinate the cooperation of European industry to build small modular reactors and 'thus contribute to decarbonising the European energy system and to achieving climate neutrality by 2050'.

In this scenario, ENEA, through the Nuclear Department, will participate in the Technical Working Group on Smr and liquid lead-cooled Advanced Modular Reactors, 'dealing with financial aspects, supply chain, radioactive waste and spent fuel management, research and innovation, development and training, safety and safeguards'.

ENEA will also play an active role in the more operational groups composed of designers and companies already directly involved in projects to implement these technologies.

The applications

The activities that ENEA will carry out with the support of its subsidiary Siet (of which ENEA is the president), Ansaldo Nucleare and newcleo, and the universities of the Cirten Consortium for Nuclear Technological Research, will concern research and development services and the experimental validation of nuclear systems and components for small water-cooled but also lead-cooled reactors 'the latter based on ENEA technology'.

'In this context, it is important to ensure compliance with the highest environmental, safety and social and labour rights standards,' concludes Dodaro, 'to promote employment and competitiveness, and to involve all stakeholders, right up to civil society, and the Alliance goes in this direction.

The Snetp Platform, in which ENEA participates together with more than 120 members from 26 different countries to implement new research and development strategies and realise innovative and sustainable solutions for the use of nuclear energy, also operates in the same direction.

"Our presence on the Governing Board of Snetp and in the Smr Alliance allows Italy to establish a direct link between the National Platform for Sustainable Nuclear Power (Pnns) of the Ministry for the Environment and Energy Security and Italian participation in European projects and initiatives,' emphasises Mariano Tarantino, head of ENEA's Nuclear Energy Systems Division. Nuclear energy is a sector in which we are a leader in the technological development, safety analysis and experimental validation of water-cooled Smr systems and components, but also in the European lead-cooled fast reactor sector, thanks to the experimental infrastructure of our Brasimone Centre and the designers of the Bologna Centre'.

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