Newcleo teams up with CEA on reactor development

Tuesday, 9 April 2024

This collaboration covers the following areas in particular: development scenarios for lead-cooled fast reactors in the French nuclear power fleet; fuel qualification; calculation codes; materials; and instrumentation and measurement.

"This partnership is a real catalyst for progress on our Generation IV reactor project," said Ludovic Vandendriesche, managing director of Newcleo's French subsidiary, Newcleo SA. "We are delighted to collaborate with the CEA, a research institute pioneering in technological innovation, and we look forward to this partnership creating a fruitful and enduring collaboration."

Newcleo's aim is to develop, build and operate Generation IV small modular reactors in France, then in Europe and beyond. The company said it "intends to capitalise on France's unique nuclear expertise and contribute to its international influence through partnerships with national public and private organisations".

In January, Newcleo announced a strategic and industrial partnership with French micro-reactor developer Naarea designed "to support all players in their industrial, technological, scientific and regulatory development" of Generation IV fast neutron reactors. The companies said that the partnership will be open to others to join and said it will focus on key areas where there are common interests, such as gaining access to the used nuclear fuel from conventional nuclear reactors that their Gen-IV reactors are designed to use as part of their efforts to close the fuel cycle.

Newcleo was a winner of the 'Innovative nuclear reactors' call for projects under the 'France 2030' investment plan implemented by Bpifrance and financed by the European Union – Next Generation EU as part of France's economic recovery plan (Plan France Relance). The company aims to launch a 30 MWe Lead-cooled Fast Neutron Demonstrator (the LFR-30) as well as a mixed uranium/plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel fabrication unit. In June 2022, Newcleo announced it had contracted France's Orano for feasibility studies on the establishment of a MOX production plant. These two projects represent a total investment of EUR3 billion (USD3.3 billion) in France.

Following the construction of the LFR-30 and MOX plant in France, Newcleo is planning to construct a 200 MWe first-of-a-kind commercial unit (the LFR-AS-200) in the UK by 2033. Last week, the Nuclear Industry Association applied to the UK government for a justification decision for Newcleo's LFR-AS-200. Such a decision is one of the required steps for the operation of a new nuclear technology in the country.