Nuclear, all the French news from Newcleo (Exor)
Newcleo has announced a collaboration with the French public body CEA on atomic energy. The Italian-British startup, supported by Exor and Enel, wants to develop a modular lead reactor by 2030: obviously in France. All the details
Newcleo, a British nuclear technology startup specializing in small modular reactors, announced this week a collaboration agreement with the CEA (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives), a French public body for research into atomic energy and energy alternatives.
WHAT NEWCLEO WILL DO IN FRANCE
The partnership focuses on the development of next-generation nuclear technologies, the fourth, not yet commercialized.
According to Newcleo, the collaboration with the CEA “marks an important step forward in the realization of the LFR project”. The acronym LFR stands for lead-cooled fast reactor , or lead-cooled fast reactor: it is a fission plant that does not use water as a coolant but rather lead. The advantage of lead is that it has a much higher boiling point than water (1749 degrees Celsius versus 100°C) and solidifies easily, thus reducing the risk of dispersion of radioactive material in the event of an accident.
THE ROLE OF THE FRENCH CDP
In May 2023 Newcleo announced a €3 billion investment plan to 2030 to build a 30 megawatt small modular reactor and fuel fabrication unit in France. Modular reactors differ from traditional ones due to their smaller size, lower power and the possibility of being built and assembled more easily thanks to the modular design .
Newcleo won the tender for innovative reactors of the France 2030 programme, carried out by the French bank Bpifrance (controlled by the French equivalent of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti) with funding from the European Union.
ALL ABOUT NEWCLEO
Newcleo was founded in 2021 by nuclear physicist Stefano Buono, former founder of Advanced Accelerator Applications (acquired by Novartis), who also holds the position of CEO.
The scientific director is Luciano Cinotti, a nuclear engineer with thirty years of experience in Ansaldo Energia . The operational director is Elisabeth Rizzotti, a physicist by training who has worked in the field of financial consultancy for Accenture and UBI Banca.
Newcleo is based in London, UK, but also has a presence in Italy and France. Among its investors is Exor, the holding company led by John Elkann and owner of Stellantis and the GEDI group ( publisher of Repubblica ).
In March 2023 Newcleo signed a technological collaboration agreement with Enel.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/energia/newcleo-collaborazione-cea-francia/ on Thu, 11 Apr 2024 14:19:52 +0000.