Politecnico di Milano is one of the partners in ANSELMUS (Advanced Nuclear Safety Evaluation of Liquid Metal Using Systems), a four-year project funded by the European Atomic Energy Community’s EURATOM research and training programme.

The project aims to make a significant contribution to the safety evaluation of nuclear systems cooled with heavy liquid metals (HLMs), in particular ALFRED and MYRRHA, two experimental lead fast reactor (LFR) designs that combine the advantages of a fast reactor system, which reduces the impact of nuclear waste, with intrinsic safety properties due to – among other things – lead’s high boiling point and its chemical inertness.

The study of innovative technologies that can guarantee high standards of efficiency and safety in nuclear energy is particularly important in the current energy context. The importance of low-carbon energy sources in the challenge against climate change underlines the importance of the presence of nuclear energy in the European energy mix for a sustainable future.

The project coordinator for Politecnico di Milano is Professor Marco Ricotti, Professor of Nuclear Plants; the ANSELMUS project will involve not only the Department of Energy, but also the Department of Management Engineering.
Researchers from Politecnico di Milano will contribute to the project with a technical-economic-financial analysis to assess the hypothesis that this type of reactor can operate in a power modulation mode through cogeneration. The activity will focus on possible configurations of the Balance of Plant and ancillary systems for hydrogen production and energy storage. The economic modelling will be able to estimate the cost of construction and cogeneration for LFR plants by parameterising these costs to the plant capacity. In addition, risks and opportunities from a financial point of view will be identified in order to derive an appropriate business model for the development and implementation of this technology.