EU-SMR-LFR welcomes the European Commission’s vision to accelerate SMR deployment
During the Nuclear Energy Summit in Paris on 10 March 2026, the European Commission officially launched its strategy for the development and deployment of Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). The EU-SMR-LFR Consortium, bringing together Ansaldo Nucleare and ENEA (Italy), RATEN (Romania) and SCK CEN (Belgium), supports this vision and sees it as an important step toward Europe’s future clean energy supply. The strategy reaffirms that collaboration is essential to shaping the next phase of Europe’s energy landscape.
EU-SMR-LFR ready to strengthen European nuclear innovation
According to Peter Baeten, Director‑General of SCK CEN, the Commission’s strategy aligns perfectly with what the EU-SMR-LFR Consortium has believed since its foundation: 'Europe can only succeed in developing a new generation of nuclear energy through genuine collaboration. ‘EU-SMR-LFR brings industrial and scientific expertise together in a four‑partner consortium, and we have recently also signed a collaboration agreement with newcleo for our first demonstrator LEANDREA. We are hence committed to further growing this collaborative ecosystem to strengthen Europe’s position in innovative, low‑carbon nuclear technology and to contribute to greater strategic energy autonomy through the realization of a lead-cooled fast SMR, which can play a meaningful role in a stable and sustainable European energy system.
Roberto Adinolfi also stresses that the new European SMR strategy is fully in line with how EU-SMR-LFR operates: focusing on fast implementation, standardisation and cross border cooperation. He sees the development of a robust European industrial ecosystem as a unique opportunity for Europe, offering benefits in terms of safety, sustainability and local economic growth. EU-SMR-LFR is ready to contribute concretely to this transformation.
