The Academic-industrial Nuclear technology Initiative to Achieve a sustainable energy future - ANItA, was conceptualised in 2021 and began operating in 2022. ANItA is a collaboration platform currently consisting of: Uppsala University (host), Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Chalmers as academic partners. The industrial partners are: Vattenfall, Uniper, Fortum, Westinghouse and Studsvik Nuclear. The state is represented by the Swedish Energy Agency, with Swedish and Finnish regulators, and Women in Nuclear as observers.
Through research and development, ANItAs mission is to generate knowledge-based decision support that facilitates efficient and timely implementation of new nuclear power technology in Sweden, particularly light-water small modular reactors (SMRs). Part of this mission is also to secure and develop the important supply of expertise in the nuclear power technology field. The collaboration also aims to facilitate a rational debate in society on the role nuclear power has in addressing environmental and climate issues while keeping high welfare ambitions intact. Between 2022 and 2026, ANItA is funded with one third each from industry, academia and the Swedish Energy Agency, and the total budget amounts to approximately €8m during these first five years.
To address the different aspects of the mission, a joint research portfolio was developed that met the interests of both industry and academia and was in line with the analyses carried out concerning the requirements of implementing a new reactor technology. The resulting research portfolio currently consists of 14 projects comprising research and development work within technical and non-technical subjects. The projects are staffed with PhD students and postdoctoral researchers with supervision and senior participation from both the academy and industry. In this context, it is important to point out that ANItA is not involved in the design or construction of SMRs. Instead, it relies upon relevant information from the current reactor suppliers to reach ANItA to establish realistic scenarios for the research and development work.
ANItAs project portfolio is divided into five research areas according to:
- A. SMR technologies and applications
- B. SMR-specific core, fuel, and operation
- C. SMR-specific reactor safety and safety systems
- D. Fuel cycles
- E. Deployment of new nuclear technology in Sweden
Research areas A-D cover a broad range of technical subjects relevant to light-water SMR utilisation. In brief terms, the projects deal with the following issues:
- Optimised chemistry for LWR SMRs
- Structural materials issues
- Fuel assembly and core design optimisation for SMRs
- Novel reactor monitoring techniques
- Novel approaches to nuclear safeguards
- Experimental methods for accelerating fuel development
- Recycling of spent nuclear fuel
- Applications beyond electricity generation
- Studying the role of SMRs in hybrid energy systems
- Design basis and beyond design basis scenarios, passive safety systems
While research areas A-D cover typical technical topics in nuclear engineering, research area E covers non-technical areas that directly affect the implementation of SMRs. Such areas are laws and regulations, as well as project strategies, financing models and ownership issues. Work in these areas is carried out at Uppsala University's Department of Business Studies and the Department of Industrial Engineering.
