KTH initiative paves the way for new nuclear energy lab

“KTH has scored big in the Swedish Energy Agency’s call for proposals. I believe we can rely on our strength in our various fields and the fact that we have put together two very convincing applications,” says Pär Olsson, Professor of Physics and Nuclear Materials and Head of the Department of Physics at KTH.

The Swedish Energy Agency's call for proposals is aimed at projects that will promote research infrastructure and testing and experimental infrastructure for future nuclear power. The aim is to contribute to a sustainable electricity and energy supply in order to achieve the necessary energy and climate transition.

Shall produce fossil-free heating

Pär Olsson and his research colleagues' NUCLEAR project has been granted SEK 36 million to build an experimental research laboratory where they will test new techniques for manufacturing materials and components that can be used in smaller nuclear reactors, known as small modular reactors (SMRs). The goal is to find new ways to produce fossil-free heat for use in industry, for electrification and for society's needs.

At the same time, colleague and KTH professor Pavel Kudinov's project ExPaNS has also been awarded just over SEK 17 million. The project aims to create a knowledge and competence platform for the nuclear power of the future.

Receive more than stated in the call

This means that the KTH researchers will receive a total of more than the 50 million Swedish kronor that the call for proposals originally consisted of.

"We were bold and applied for more, because we knew that the Swedish Energy Agency had received a lot of funding in this field. It was worth taking a chance, and we were convincing, so they decided to change the call for proposals and distribute more money than they had originally announced," Olsson says.

"Came at the right time"

The research projects are conducted within the framework of Nexus , KTH's strategic initiative on nuclear energy.

"It is clear evidence that this was a strategic initiative that came at the right time. Nexus gave us the opportunity to start discussing exciting new research that we hadn't had before. We had previously worked independently, but the initiative made us start thinking more about how we could be interdisciplinary in this field," Olsson says.

Text: Sabina Fabrizi ( sabina@kth.se )

Read about all of KTH's strategic research initiatives

The project NUCLEAR

The Advanced Nuclear Technology Laboratory (NUCLEAR) project is a collaboration between KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Luleå University of Technology, Westinghouse and Blykalla. The two-year project aims to establish a research laboratory for nuclear materials and components. The infrastructure represents an important step in strengthening the national NuMaP  platform.

According to the Swedish Energy Agency's assessment, the project's usefulness is high "because the research laboratory enables research using technologies that are not currently available in Sweden, and the need for the infrastructure has been identified both in Sweden and in international collaborations".

The project ExPaNS

The project "Experimental platform for the development of new reactors in Sweden", ExPaNS, aims to create an advanced experimental platform to build competence, knowledge and innovation for the nuclear power of the future.

The reactors of the future rely on passive safety systems, which requires knowledge of the phenomena that drive the system in different accident scenarios. Lead-cooled reactors, popular candidates for future expansion, have the disadvantage that the lead coolant causes the reactor components to corrode. Therefore, the project focuses on upgrading existing research facilities and building new ones to conduct analysis.