EASI-SMR Ensuring Assessment of Safety Innovations for SMR

ID Call: HORIZON-EURATOM-2023-NRT-01-02 Safety of light water small modular reactors (LW-SMRs)

Sapienza's role in the project: Affiliated entity

Scientific supervisor for Sapienza: Fabio Giannetti

Department: Astronautical, Electrical and Energy Engineering

Project start date: September 1, 2024

Project end date: August 31, 2028

Abstract:

The energy transition and industries decarbonation drived in Europe by The European Green Deal, Fit for 55 policy package, and REPowerEU offer huge potential market opportunities that attract many players outside and inside the European Union who are active in bringing SMRs technologies to reality in Europe.

In that context, the European SMR pre-Partnership worked in 2022-2023 on different workstreams, including an R&D&I program consistent with the European market needs and the licensing requirements. The aim was to ensure the implementation of the highest nuclear safety standards in Europe and secure a best-in-class position for European industry and R&D organizations within the international competition. This European initiative has now become the European Industrial Alliance on SMRs.

The EASI-SMR work program is largely inspired by the European SMR pre-Partnership R&D roadmap, with a particular focus on passive systems. The four-year project will address the safety issues associated with major LW-SMR innovations:

• Passive safety systems
• Soluble boron-free cores
• Co-generation and hybridization
• Additive manufacturing to improve the compactness of modularization of Nuclear Steam 
• Supply System internals
• Multi-unit operation

The work aims to provide insights and facilitate licensing for European LW-SMR industrial projects. 

Sapienza University of Rome is actively participating, as CIRTEN third party, in WP1 and WP3. In WP1, which addresses various general aspects related to LW-SMRs, the Sapienza group is involved in Task 1.5 – Hybrid Energy Systems, which studies the use of reactors for both electrical and non-electrical applications (such as cogeneration and district heating). WP3, on the other hand, focuses on the analysis of passive safety systems, with particular attention to the ability of thermo-hydraulic calculation codes used in Europe to simulate their behavior, the identification of best modeling practices, and the validation of codes through experimental data. As part of the project, Sapienza is developing an open database representative of the new two-loop nuward version.