European Sodium Fast Reactor – Safety by Innovative Monitoring, Power Level flexibility and Experimental research

To facilitate the integration of future nuclear reactors into the European energy system, it is necessary to demonstrate that the reactors have uncompromised safety and meet future societal needs. The ESFR-SIMPLE project aims to challenge the current European Sodium Fast Reactor (ESFR) design to improve its safety and economics through the implementation of innovative technologies in accordance with the ESNII roadmap.

The project’s main objective is to rethink the ESFR design in order to simplify it and make it more cost-competitive, while still achieving resource sustainability and having safety reinforced by intrinsic behaviour. This can be accomplished through reducing the size of the reactor, which will also allow taking advantage of Small Modular Reactor features such as transportability, modularisation, standardisation, and flexible operation, all ultimately leading to improved economics. The project aims to assess the impact of alternative technologies, such as metallic fuel and compact secondary system design, on the economics and safety of large-size European Sodium-cooled Fast Reactors (ESFR). Additionally, it seeks to propose, develop, and evaluate advanced methods for monitoring and processing operational data using Artificial Intelligence, particularly for optimizing early-stage fault detection in steam generators.

Efforts will be made to ensure that the knowledge generated is shared not only among project partners but also with a broad range of stakeholders across Europe and internationally. The project activities will also be informed by the public and other stakeholders’ perceptions of the risks and benefits of ESFR technology. Close interactions with EU safety regulator experts will enable continued review and recommendation of the solutions proposed and developed in the project.