Week 45

Three nuclear energy innovation news!

♨ Calogena (FR) files its safety option application (DOS) to the French Autorité de sûreté nucléaire (ASN) for its 30 MWth pool-type low-pressure nuclear boiler. This design is significantly smaller in power than traditional nuclear reactors, as well as considerably simpler, allowing for potential installation near urban centers for district heating. The project now enters a pre-assessment phase, expected to last approximately two years before potentially moving to the next step: the review of the creation authorization application (DAC).

💰 Antares (US) raises a $30m Series A co-led by Alt Capital and Caffeinated Capital. The startup has already demonstrated its first heat pipe and machined core components, eyeing a 240 kWth demonstration unit by mid-2025. Their target design, the R1, is a 300 kWe reactor coupled with a low-pressure closed nitrogen Brayton cycle. One of the key innovations is to rely on sodium heat pipes for the heat transfer.

🖥 Framatome (FR) announces the acquisition of allentis, a specialist in IT security solutions. It develops solutions for the monitoring of digital and industrial networks and the design of secure architectures, qualified by the Agence nationale de la sécurité des systèmes d'information (ANSSI).

👨‍🎓 Paper of the week: "Ionizing radiation has negligible effects on the age, telomere length and corticosterone levels of Chornobyl tree frogs", Biology Letters (2024)

👉 Chernobyl frogs exposed to radiation are ok, worry not.