ADS National Programmes: Italy

Following a preliminary design developed in 1998, based on the Energy Amplifier concept proposed by CERN, a first configuration of a lead-bismuth Eutectic cooled Experimental ADS (LBE-XADS) was worked out in the period 1999–2001, under the aegis of MURST, by a group of Italian organizations led by Ansado Nucleare, with the aim of assessing the feasibility of a small sized (80 MWth) ADS. At the end of 1997 a joint effort of ENEA (National Agency for New Technology, Energy and the Environment) and INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics) led to the approval of a national programme by MURST (Minister for University and Scientific and Technological Research) named TRASCO (TRAsmutazione SCOrie) aiming at the study of physics and technologies needed to design an ADS for radioactive waste transmutation. The programme consisted of research subprogrammes on accelerator, neutronics, thermalhydraulics analysis, beam window technology, and material technology and compatibility with Pb and Pb-Bi. At now, most of the activities in support to the ADS development carried out at national level are part of EU-funded Projects. These activities are complemented by the programme agreement (AdP -Accordo di programma), signed between ENEA and the Ministry of Economic Development, which provides in general a range of activities aimed at the development of sustainable nuclear fission systems. Several universities and the national industry are involved, besides ENEA, in the activities