Italy’s MAIRE and France-headquartered nuclear start-up newcleo have signed binding agreements to establish NextCleo a newly incorporated joint venture company between Maire subsidiary Nextchem (60%) and newcleo (40%) to develop the conventional island and balance of plant of new generation commercial-scale nuclear plants based on newcleo’s 200 MWe Advanced Modular Reactor (AMR). Nextchem will be granted an initial stake of 1.25% of Newcleo shares, increasing to around 5% pending specific milestones.
Newcleo will develop the nuclear reactor for its small modular lead-cooled fast reactor LFR-AS-200 technology, currently in the early conceptual design stage, while Nextchem will leverage its know-how to enable NextCleo to deliver the extended basic design, procure the critical proprietary equipment relevant to the conventional island and balance of plant of the NPP, and provide project management/integration services to Newcleo. NextCleo will also provide services to other small and advanced modular reactor technology providers.
Maire CEO Alessandro Bernini notes: “With NextCleo we start a new path to industrialise carbon-neutral chemistry models based on safe, reliable and competitive energy supply.” Newcleo CEO and founder Stefano Buono, CEO of Newcleo, said the collaboration “will leverage Maire’s proven track record in complex industrial projects while accelerating the commercialisation of our lead-cooled fast reactor technology”.
Newcleo’s delivery roadmap sees the first non-nuclear precursor prototype of its reactor being ready by 2026 in Italy and the first reactor operational in France by the end of 2031, while the final investment decision for the first commercial power plant is expected around 2029.
Since its establishment, newcleo has been very active in fundraising and signing partnership and collaboration agreements. Its business now counts over 90 partnerships, and more than 1,000 employees based in 19 locations across France, Italy, the UK, Switzerland, and Slovakia, including three manufacturing facilities.
While newcleo’s website extol the virtues of the LFR, there is scant detail of the nuclear technology that will power the reactor, although there appears to be some progress on non-nuclear components of the design.
Currently, the only operating liquid metal-cooled fast reactors are in Russia, using sodium as the coolant. Russia is also constructing the world’s first ever lead-cooled SMR (Brest-OD-300). This reactor is based on decades of complex research and development supported by the entire Russian nuclear industry. It is due to begin operation in 2029. By contrast, newcleo’s technologies remain in the very early conceptual design stage.
