2023-05-15 17:36:46
It’s a small revolution in France, in a sector dominated by EDF. The Newcleo company, founded by Stefano Buono, a physicist from Turin, announced on Monday May 15 an investment of 3 billion euros by 2030 in the development of a small modular reactor (SMR) in the Rhone Valley. . The information was revealed as part of the Choose France summit, devoted to foreign investment in France.
This demonstrator, six meters in diameter and as high, would have a capacity of 30 MW – ie 30 times less than a conventional nuclear power plant. Newcleo is also counting on the construction of a unit for manufacturing Mox fuel, a mixture of plutonium and depleted uranium, already used in some of the French power stations. At the same time, a 200 MW reactor could see the light of day in Great Britain, the other country in which the company, of British nationality, wants to set up.
For nuclear experts, Newcleo’s announcement comes as no surprise. The company was born in 2021, but its three founders have been working on the project for several years. Stefano Buono had also created a biotech specializing in nuclear medicine, Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA), sold to Novartis in 2017 for 3.3 billion euros, which provided him with the starting point to get started.
Great investor interest
Since then, Newcleo has raised a first fundraising of 400 million euros last year, subscribed in particular by the Agnelli family, and it is in the process of carrying out a second funding round, of one billion euros this time. . Newcleo already employs 400 people, including 70 engineers in its French offices, based in Lyon. They should be around 100 by the end of the year for a total workforce of 500 people. In March, former defense minister Florence Parly joined Newcleo’s board.
The technology used is also known. It involves building a so-called fourth-generation fast neutron reactor, like Superphénix, but cooled with lead and not with liquid sodium. The Russians, in particular, have worked a lot on the subject, as well as the American Westinghouse. Luciano Cinotti, scientific director of Newcleo, had also worked on Superphenix, arrested in 1997 at the request of environmentalists.
A technology presented as safer
The advantage of these fast reactors is to maximize the energy potential of uranium and reduce the volume of waste by burning plutonium in particular and transmuting long-lived radioactive elements. “The use of lead provides a very high intrinsic safety of the reactor”believe the leaders of Newcleo, highlighting “passive residual heat removal systems” and a high boiling point “which excludes the risk of core meltdown”.
With fast reactors, « il s60 grams of nuclear fuel will suffice to meet the electricity needs of a Frenchman throughout his life, without CO2 emissions”emphasizes Newcleo, in his presentation.
Many projects are in the running
SMRs should be built in blocks before being assembled at the factory, which should reduce costs. Newcleo mentions a price of the electricity produced between 40 and 60 €/MWh, that is to say two times less than for the current EPRs. To achieve this, the reactors still have to be mass-produced, which requires a minimum volume of orders and to overcome the technological challenges, which are always numerous in this industry.
In any case, the development of SMRs is arousing a great deal of interest among engineers, with around thirty players worldwide. But only three benefit from significant funding, believe the leaders of Newcleo, who include themselves in it. The other two are American: Nuscale, owned by the engineering group Fluor and Terrapower, created by Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft.
In France, EDF launched the Nuward project, a 170 MW reactor operating in pairs. The electrician, who has just created a dedicated subsidiary, works with the CEA but also TechniAtome and Naval Group, which already have extensive experience in the nuclear propulsion of submarines. The objective is to launch the construction of a first unit in France in 2030.
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