ENEA with Westinghouse for an innovative Lead-cooled Fast Reactor

Westinghouse Electric Company announced the presentation of a proposal for the development of a Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) aimed at achieving new levels of energy affordability, safety and flexibility. ENEA will perform core design and analysis for the demonstration reactor.

Westinghouse Electric Company – the main vendor of nuclear systems in the world – announced the presentation of a proposal for the development of a Lead-cooled Fast Reactor (LFR) that will be designed to achieve new levels of energy affordability, safety and flexibility. The proposal was submitted for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) upcoming investment in advanced reactor concepts that can be demonstrated in the 2035 timeframe, for the next clean-energy innovation.

The Westinghouse led team, almost entirely American, gathers some of the main national laboratories (Argonne, Idaho, Oak Ridge and Los Alamos), universities (MIT, Wisconsin, California-Berkeley and Pittsburgh) and industries (Hydromine, Exelon and Ceramic Tubular Products). The only exception is for the participation of ENEA, included by Westinghouse to complement the team competences and ensure success to the proposal. The presence of ENEA “offers access to world-class well-established lead reactor technology facilities and expertise, matured through over 15 years of experience with lead technology”.

Specifically, at the research center in Bologna ENEA will perform core design and analysis for the demonstration reactor and provide general support in plant analysis. ENEA will also perform corrosion testing for structural materials, exploiting the experimental facilities at the Brasimone research center, which are among the largest in the world for heavy liquid metal testing.