RINA and Ansaldo Energia launch initiative to qualify non-nuclear suppliers for Italy’s nuclear supply chain

RINA and Ansaldo Energia have launched an initiative designed to bolster Italy’s nuclear supply chain. The effort targets companies that are not currently active in the nuclear sector but have transferable industrial capabilities, with the stated goal of expanding and strengthening Italy’s national industrial base.

The initiative is built around a structured pathway intended to help prospective suppliers prepare for the nuclear market. It includes preliminary assessments and gap analyses against international standards, followed by upgrade pathways to support companies as they work toward certification and qualification.

Under the initiative, RINA will support companies throughout the certification and qualification process. Ansaldo Energia will provide industrial expertise in the sector, share market requirements, and promote initiatives intended to support certification processes, including financial backing from institutions and public instruments for internationalisation and industrial development.

Ansaldo Energia CEO Fabrizio Fabbri said that strengthening the country’s industrial capacity is an essential step to enable Italian companies to seize opportunities in what he described as a rapidly growing nuclear market.

RINA CEO and General Manager Carlo Luzzatto said the initiative is intended to support companies on a structured qualification pathway, enabling them to progressively develop capabilities and meet requirements needed to operate in an industry defined by the highest regulatory, technological and safety standards. He added that combining RINA’s expertise with Ansaldo Energia’s industrial experience will help strengthen the competitiveness of Italy’s nuclear supply chain and improve its ability to capitalise on opportunities from both national and international nuclear programmes.

The Italian Nuclear Association expressed full support for the initiative, saying it is important to strengthen and coordinate a national nuclear supply chain and that it builds on expertise and industrial capabilities developed through significant projects abroad. The association also said the national asset must be further expanded and consolidated to respond to opportunities from new international projects and to a demanding nuclear programme expected to be launched in Italy in the coming months.

Companies interested in joining the initiative can find further information on the websites of RINA and Ansaldo Energia.

Context: Italy’s nuclear restart framework

Italy previously operated four nuclear power plants starting in the early 1960s, before phasing out nuclear power after a referendum following the 1986 Chernobyl accident. The country closed its last two operating plants, Caorso and Trino Vercellese, in 1990.

After the Fukushima Daiichi accident in 2011, the Italian government approved a moratorium of at least one year on construction of nuclear power plants. In a June 2011 poll, 94% of voters rejected construction of new nuclear reactors.

More recently, Italy’s Parliament approved a motion in May 2023 urging the government to consider incorporating nuclear power into the energy mix. The government has also established a National Platform for Sustainable Nuclear Power and progressed a bill delegating responsibility for the reintroduction of nuclear energy. The bill is now to be voted on by the Senate, with implementing legislative decrees due within 12 months of the law’s entry into force.

NECX 2026 scheduled for August 24–27 in Dallas

Event update

The second annual Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX 2026) is set for August 24–27 in Dallas, Texas.

The event is positioned as a forum intended to bring together the full nuclear energy ecosystem.

Organizers say the conference will focus on real-world progress in the sector.

Nucleoeléctrica signs MoU to support Candu life-extension and services internationally

Argentina-based Nucleoeléctrica has signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate internationally on Candu life-extension and support activities, including engineering, technical assistance and maintenance services for Candu-type nuclear power plants.

The MoU was signed with Canada’s Candu Energy Inc, part of AtkinsRéalis, and positions Nucleoeléctrica as a partner with direct and proven experience in the type of projects Romania intends to undertake. The company’s stated aims include expanding revenue streams, generating foreign exchange, and projecting expertise developed by the Argentine nuclear industry internationally.

The developments are tied to life-extension work for Candu reactors at two sites: Romania’s Cernavoda plant and Argentina’s Embalse plant. Both facilities operate Candu reactors and share the same technological base, which Nucleoeléctrica highlights as relevant to cooperation.

In Argentina, Embalse’s life extension work was completed following a shutdown at the end of 2015. The scope included reactor retubing and replacing the steam generators, and it also included a 6% increase of the plant’s capacity to 683 MWe. Embalse returned to commercial operation in 2019 with a further 30 years of operation.

The described life-extension activities also include major component replacement and high-precision rebuild steps. The work includes replacing key reactor components such as steam generators, pressure tubes, calandria tubes and feeder tubes. It involves removing all the reactor’s fuel and heavy water and isolating the reactor from the rest of the power station before dismantling.

The source further describes inspection and replacement work performed during the rebuild, including thousands of components that are not accessible when the reactor is assembled. It also states that all 480 fuel channels and 960 feeder tubes are replaced during the high-precision rebuild.

Romania’s Cernavoda is currently undergoing a life-extension project to extend lifetime by 30 years. The Cernavoda plant comprises two operating 650 MWe Candu-6 reactors, with Nuclearelectrica planning to extend the operating life of unit 1 to 60 years. The refurbishment for unit 1 began in 2017 and is in the second of three phases; the third phase is scheduled for 2027 to 2029 and starts with unit 1 shutdown, followed by the work required for recommissioning.