The agreement aims to foster closer cooperation between nuclear experts from both companies, focusing on Newcleo's lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) technology and mixed-oxide fuel. A key goal is exploring the potential re-use of Slovakia's existing spent nuclear fuel to power the reactors.
Specific areas of cooperation may include the assessment of deploying Newcleo's LFR technology in Slovakia, exploring fuel cycle solutions to potentially re-use Slovakia's spent nuclear fuel inventory, collaborating on research and development activities and developing skills and capabilities in advanced nuclear technologies.
Stefano Buono, CEO of Newcleo, said: "Slovakia has more than 50 years of nuclear tradition, know-how, and human capital in highly skilled experts, and Vuje has been the cornerstone of nuclear in this field. We aim to partner with Vuje on further technical development of advanced nuclear reactors which can make use of spent nuclear fuel. This cooperation agreement could further accelerate our R&D and Engineering activities in Europe. I am convinced that this cooperation can bring us closer to a role model solution for many European countries to decarbonise their electricity production effectively and provide a sustainable solution to their stocks of spent nuclear fuel."
Matej Korec, CEO of Vuje, said: "We believe advanced modular reactor technologies and closing the fuel cycle have great potential for the future of nuclear energy in Slovakia and Europe. By participating in Newcleo's plans, we hope to help the technology become available sooner."