A project that originates in the work of the Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia. An agreement has been signed between the Newcleo company and the research agency Enea for the development of a prototype of a “small modular reactor”. The company: “We will sell and install it at various sites abroad, between France and the UK”
Genoa – On the lake of Brasimone, on the border between Emilia and Tuscany, where in the 1980s the first sodium-cooled nuclear reactor was born and died immediately at the hands of Chernobyl and the referendum, Italy still believes in the energy of the atom. Enea, a state research body, and Newcleo, a private company with only six months of life, have signed an agreement to create a prototype of a small lead-cooled modular reactor.
The time horizon, explained by Newcleo, is five years “within which we want to build and test the prototype on the Brasimone. It will be a electric prototype, without the use of nuclear fuel, and will allow us to put the technology to the test in Italy, in compliance with national law ”. In parallel, the company will start production of the small reactors. The production site, not yet identified, could be in Italy. The small reactors, three meters by three meters, will then be exported and installed abroad.
In recent weeks, Newcleo has declared that it is in an advanced stage of negotiations with France and the United Kingdom. “Everything is going very well, we have visited several sites”, The company said. Newcleo has its headquarters in London and its research center in Turin, where 75 people currently work. Its founders are Stefano Buono, Elisabeth Rizzotti and Luciano Cinotti. Rizzotti is a manager, Buono and Cinotti are scientists.
The small modular reactors produce each year 30 MWe, electrical megawatts, equal to the annual consumption of 90 thousand families. A presentation slide by Newcleo describes them as the optimal solution because “in addition to producing much less radioactive waste (…) they can produce electricity by burning, and therefore eliminating, existing nuclear waste”.
Liquid lead cooling is one of the most promising paths towards generation IV nuclear power, which Italy is following not only thanks to Newcleo. The nuclear division of Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo Nucleare, together with Enea itself, are the leader of a project that will lead to the construction of another prototype, in Romania. Cinotti, co-founder and scientific director of Newcleo, comes from Ansaldo Nucleare. In collaboration with Newcleo, Enea, which is supervised by the Ministry of Ecological Transition, will make available the infrastructures of Brasimone and the skills of its researchers.
The belief of Newcleo and of those in favor of nuclear power is that the European Union cannot imagine reaching the objectives it has set itself in 2030, to reduce greenhouse gases by 55%, only with renewable energies. The phase out of coal-fired power plants must be accompanied by plants capable of supporting their own production. Countries like Poland or Hungary cannot give up coal without having a ready and equally efficient alternative. Unlike the sun and the wind, nuclear power plants deliver energy 92.5% of the time, they are almost always on. The size of the small modular reactors could allow them to integrate with renewable sources, sun, wind, water, to ensure continuity in electricity generation, but also heat production for industrial purposes or hydrogen to be used also for decarbonisation.
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