Italian nuclear power on the international and European scene

As president of SNETP * (European Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform) and CTO of EDF Group and director of EDF R&D*, I had the pleasure to talk at the Italian Nuclear Association forum on dec 5th 2023 in Roma about an industrial point of view at European level. This analysis represents my personal opinion only

Europe is facing a tremendous challenge for electricity generation in the 2 or 3 decades to come

We are going to face a huge boom of electrification in the years to come in all sectors, buildings, industry and transportation, hydrogen. According to EU 2020 reference scenario, electricity share should move from 22% in 2015 to 26% in 2030 and 33% in 2050. The additional TWh we need to generate are in the order of magnitude of 1000 additional TWh between 2020 and 2050.

On top of this increase, we also need to turn most of the current electricity generation into a very low carbon one. Today natural gas and coal represent roughly 35 % of electricity generation according to the same EU reference. It means existing 900 TWh electricity generation has to be turned into a very low carbon one between today and 2050.

The war in Ukraine has speed up these needs calculated by the commission in 2020.

That is an order of magnitude of 2000 TWh new very low carbon generation connected to the grid in 30 years. These figures are incredibly huge. 1000 TWh is roughly the sum of Italy and France current electricity demand.

With a net zero objective to be reached by 2050, those figures mean that all technologies are required. We cannot afford to let one of them out of the landscape. Let’s remember that in 2021, nuclear energy accounted for 25 % of all electricity produced in Europe. This largely re-open the door for new nuclear generation together with increased needs for renewables in the EU.

Should we be really serious with net zero objective by 2050, those figures mean that all technologies are required. We cannot afford to let one of them out of the landscape.

Let us also remember that in 2021, nuclear energy accounted for 25 % of all electricity produced in Europe. This largely re-open the door for new nuclear generation together with increased needs for renewables in the EU.

Nuclear is not an old-fashioned business nor a transitional energy source: it is an industrial solution

The key advantages of nuclear energy are well known:

? It is a very low carbon generation mean: French nuclear fleet emission from birth to grave are 4g/ kwh.

? It has a very small footprint: EDF plans to build two additional EPR2 reactors on the Penly site on the channel seaside which already host two 1.3 GW existing ones. The total surface of the site is 230 ha for 40 TWh of electricity per year or 200 000 Mwh per ha. Let me remember that a photovoltaic plant generate 2000 Mwh per ha in a sunny region, one hundred time less.

? At last nuclear generation cost are very stable because the cost of operating the plant is a small part of the Leverage Cost of Electricity, around 25%.

On the other hand, safety risks, waste management, huge over-cost and over-delay for construction are largely mentioned as the key drawbacks of nuclear energy. About safety and wastes, the EU has included certain types of nuclear installations in the European taxonomy list of economic activities considered sustainable in support of the Green Deal.

I strongly recommend to refer to the report of the European Joint Research Center (JRC) called “ Technical assessment of nuclear energy with respect to the ‘do no significant harm’ criteria of ‘Taxonomy Regulation’”.

Among key factors to comply with this “do not significant harm” criteria JRC key findings about safety is the need to have a strong regulatory framework in order to enforce a high level of safety for construction and operation of the plants by the nuclear operators.

About waste, let me quote its key finding : “Presently, there is a broad scientific and technical consensus that disposal of high-level, long-lived radioactive waste in deep geologic formations is, at the state of today’s knowledge, considered as an appropriate and safe means of isolating it from the biosphere for very long time scales”.

In this respect Sweden, Finland and France are in the process of opening such redepository.

Let me also mention that public commitment is very high for the construction of a new plant on existing sites. It is an important indication for public acceptance.

About the question of cost and delays, the key driver for success is the serie effect, that is to say to build several units of the same design with the same construction method.

In this respect, EDF intends to build in France a first serie of 6 EPR2 reactors based on the experience of the EPR first construction for an overall construction cost of roughly 50 billions euros. Two EPR units are in operation in China in TaiShan and one in Olkiluoto in Finland. Two additionnal EPR are under construction in UK and EDF is completing Flamanville plant in France for fuel loading next year.

Nuclear power plants are cutting-edge technology with a level of complexity more than ten time higher the one of a new civil big airplane.

As a cutting edge technology, success can be reached on the basis of a serie of identical reactors only.

Given this global landscape several EU countries have also decided to build new plants.

Czech Republic launched this year a bidding process for the Dukovany Nuclear Power Plant. Poland has also made several announcements to construct several new big plants. Slovenia also indicated its interest in nuclear new built. Romania is also part of this perspective.

Small Modular Reactors bring additional advantages in this global promising landscape

The EU commission has launched in June 2022 the EU SMR pre-partnership. As SNETP chairman, I am a member of the steering committee leading this pre-partnership. The goal is to prepare “enabling conditions” to develop SMR in the EU. The keys topics which are addressed are the market, the licensing process, the financing means, the supply chain and the research and development. The perspective of turning this pre-partnership into an European Alliance similar to the battery, hydrogen or photovoltaic ones lies in front of us.

At ENEF-Bratislava meeting on November 6th Recently the EU commissioner for Energy confirmed an increasing interest in nuclear technologies in some EU countries, and their potential role in meeting Europe’s decarbonisation targets and security of energy supply objectives. Alongside this meeting, the EU Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson took part in meetings with the European nuclear industry, nuclear safety regulators as well as Member States to discuss the challenges for the establishment of an industrial alliance on small and modular reactors (SMRs) and its potential benefits.

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Indeed SMR using light water reactor technology could be available on the market by the beginning of next decade as they are based on a well experienced back ground. They are more affordable and so less risky than big units as their size is up to 10 times smaller. The large serie effect, with modular construction, is fully inbedded in the technology of SMR provided that the licensing process be organized in advance to license identical SMR designs in different EU countries. NUWARD project promoted by the French industry has succeeded to launch such a pre-licensing process called “Joint Early Review” with the Finnish, Czech and French safety regulators. Polish, Dutch and Swede regulators have announced they will join.

Advanced Modular Reactor or AMR are also on stage. Four main technologies sodium cooled, lead cooled, molten salt and high temperature are under development. They will arrive later on the market. Nevertheless they do present interesting characteristics. Fast reactors could help to reduce the quantity of long-lived wastes such as actinides, be used to recycle spent fuel and depleted uranium, and at last as they operate at high temperature, very often beyond 500C, they could provide high temperature decarbonized heat to the industry.

As such, SMR and AMR could be a key tool to reach net zero. These two technologies are complementary and they be pursued in parallel. They could provide electricity as big units, but they have also the suitable size for generating decarbonized hydrogen coupled with high temperature electrolysers, or high temperature heat to big industrial hubs. They could also play the role of balancing the electrical grid when the content of variable generation connected with electronical devices and as such providing no inertia nor reactive electrical power is going to sharply increase. As such, they would also be complementary of Renewables because they play the role of an enabler of renewables development. ?

At last, entrepreneurial spirit is blossoming in the SMR/ AMR technology. Newcomers, start-upers have entered the nuclear field. It is an unprecedented event in the history of the nuclear industry. It fills the landscape with a new spirit, new initiative, possible disruption, and new people. In the World Nuclear Exhibition in Paris they met a big success. Some of them have raised big amount of money. Venture Capitalists are also on board.

Several countries are speeding up the nuclear road in Europe

After the taxonomy regulation issuance middle of last year, opening the door for nuclear, several members states and the EU parliament have taken initiatives.

Fourteen Members States (+UK and Italy as observer) have asserted their commitment to the pursued strengthening of European cooperation in the field of nuclear energy as an important component of Europe’s energy and climate ambition. Under one of the industrial initiatives relating to nuclear energy, economic competitiveness is presented as one of the strengths of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR).

Update of the National Energy and Climate plans 2021-2030 (NECP) that each state has to deliver was to be due in June 2023. Although many States have not yet submitted it, ten countries, so far, have indicated that their energy mix will contain an important portion of Nuclear.

At the EU Parliament level, the framework of measures for strengthening Europe’s net-zero technology products manufacturing ecosystem (called Net Zero Industry Act) as adopted on November 21st 2023, in it’s actual status, has recognised the nuclear fission as a strategic industrial technology which should be supported at the same level as any other low carbon energy production process.

Should you decide, Italy has a lot of assets to enter this playing field

Nuclear development need partnerships, supply chain and competences. Italy has all of them.

Italy has a long story about nuclear.

The country was one of the first to develop the technology in Europe and was also involved in cutting edge projects such as sodium fast breeder reactors or accelerator driven systems.

More recently, about competences and knowledge, Italians companies, research centers and universities are partnering with the European research and development nuclear community. They play an active role in the SNETP platform and as such in several projects financed by the EURATOM treaty, including for example the ELSMOR project on passive SMR.

The PoliMi has never trained as many Phd as today.

As for the Italian industrial relation with France several agreements have been signed over the last 18 months. They involved industrial parties such as Ansaldo Energia, Ansaldo Nucleare, EDISON Spa, EDF, and also research centers such as ENEA, and university such as PoliMI. The goal is to promote industrial relationships.

Italy has also a strong industrial nuclear supply chain. It is a key asset for development of new reactors.

You have knowledge for steam generator manufacturing with Mangiarotti, pump bodies with SAFAS, transformers with Electromeccanica Tironi just to quote some examples. All are qualified suppliers of the EDF nuclear fleet.

Let me conclude by one last example which illustrate the ability and the competences of your country in the nuclear supply chain.

EDF nuclear fleet suffered in 2022 a severe drawback. We found cracks on the Safety Injection Piping system of 15 of our plants. We decided to shut them down to investigate and to repair them. Nuclear safety is our foremost priority. For repairing them we needed stainless steel pipes in big quantities.

Tectubi and IBF companies supplied more than 1 km of straight pipes of 10 and 12 inches diameter and more than 1000 elbows. Without this supply we would not have started again so rapidly our units.

As EDF CTO let me thank the Italian industry for your help in that respect.

Two sentences summarize this keynote speech:

• Nuclear Industry is already present in Italy.
• We need Italy for the development of nuclear in Europe. Thank you.

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*SNETP is an association gathering around 120 members from the academic world, start-up and industry dealing with nuclear business. SNETP is a key and trusted partner of the commission to deliver the Euratom Program for nuclear fission.

* EDF is the main French electricity company, and the biggest nuclear operator worldwide. We operate 56 NPP in France and 16 in UK.

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