(Dec. 19) - An agreement between Italy and Romania for the construction of a nuclear reactor. It has been signed in Bucharest, at the presence of the Romanian Minister delegate for Energy, Constantin Nita, the constitutive act of the Falcon Consortium (Fostering Alfred Construction) between the legal representatives of Ansaldo Nucleare, Roberto Adinolfi, Enea and Giovanni Lelli and Institute of Nuclear Research "ICN" Constantin Paunoiu. This is the first step towards the realization of a fourth-generation lead-cooled liquid nuclear reactor in Romania. "The establishment of the Consortium is a successful collaboration between public research and industry, between Enea and Ansaldo Nucleare", said Lelli. The Italian industry has therefore access to funding from Romania and the EU for the supply of high technology components. The design of the nuclear reactor Alfred has been developed so far under the Seventh Euratom Framework Programme for Research and saw Ansaldo Nucleare engaged as a leader in system integration and enea in technological development, while the Italian university dealt with the specific training of students who have had a chance to participate in the project. The ICN participated in the programme of the Alfred from its early stages, contributing to the design of the reactor core and promoting the preliminary activities necessary for its approval in Romania. The consortium has the goal, through mechanisms in-kind, to collect resources necessary for the implementation of the first phase of technological development and planning. (red)

ABOUT THE ALFRED
Alfred (Advanced Lead Fast Reactor European Demonstrator) is the name of the demonstration plant which is the solution emerged from European research activities, in particular from Italy. Those activities are developed to cope with the safety problems of nuclear installations during extreme events, and so contribute to the development of an energy system with low carbon emissions.