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Brussels, 10 February 2026 – During the high-level “Taking the Lead” event on EAGLES-300, Belgian Minister of Energy Mathieu Bihet today announced the cooperation between the European EAGLES consortium -with partners Ansaldo Nucleare, ENEA, RATEN and SCK CEN- and the French company newcleo. Both parties are committed to the development and future commercialization of lead-cooled Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and will now work together on the realisation of LEANDREA. This limited-power reactor is expected to be completed by 2034 at the site of the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre SCK CEN in Belgium.
The EAGLES consortium and newcleo will generate synergies to streamline the development of the Lead-cooled Fast Reactor technology in Europe by contributing to the design and construction of LEANDREA. This reactor is being developed as both a technology demonstrator and a test facility for materials and fuels. Once operational, EAGLES and newcleo will benefit from significant irradiation capacity to test new materials and fuels for fast reactors. This supports both the EAGLES and newcleo roadmaps towards commercialization. The EAGLES programme adopts a stepwise approach: the LEANDREA Technology Demonstrator in Mol, followed by the ALFRED Performance Demonstrator in Romania, which will pave the way to commercial deployment in 2039. newcleo, in turn, is developing its own LFR reactor design with commercial deployment planned for the early 2030’s.
In our sector, we cannot push innovation forward without extensive testing. Irradiation capacity is essential for that. LEANDREA thus takes on an even more European character.
LEANDREA will be established as a Belgian research facility on the SCK CEN site, which, as a partner within the EAGLES consortium, will operate the installation. The design is based as much as possible on proven technology, enabling available knowledge to be converted into results quickly and ensuring construction can be completed in 2034.
For the development and deployment of LEANDREA, EAGLES and newcleo are now combining their efforts and will share the engineering support and contributions, as well as promotion of LEANDREA as equivalent partners. This collaboration enhances the feasibility of the commercialisation of EAGLES-300, the final product of the EAGLES consortium, as well as that of newcleo’s LFRAS200, which have both been selected by the European Industrial Alliance on SMRs as champion projects.
Through this collaboration, the EAGLES consortium and newcleo agree to jointly identify and coordinate R&D activities already foreseen in their respective roadmaps that can be shared, with the aim of minimizing overlaps in technological development of LEANDREA. With their joint commitment to LEANDREA, Europe strengthens its position in innovative, low-carbon nuclear technology and advances its strategic energy autonomy.
The facility represents a foundation for reliable, futureproof reactor concepts that can play a key role in a stable and sustainable European energy supply.
Collaboration lies at the heart of the EAGLES consortium. Within a single coordinated structure, EAGLES brings together industrial and technological expertise from Belgium, Italy, and Romania to develop and deploy EAGLES-300, a 300MWe lead-cooled fast SMR. By combining industrial knowhow with deep expertise in liquid metals, the consortium is not simply focused on scientific progress but is pursuing and promoting the commercial application of reliable, low-carbon nuclear technology.
In addition to the close collaboration between the partners, the EAGLES consortium also places strong emphasis on early alignment with nuclear safety regulators. In coordination with competent authorities from Belgium, Italy and Romania, the consortium is conducting an international pre-licensing process for EAGLES-300. This process is a pilot project within the Nuclear Harmonization and Standardization Initiative (NHSI) of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Never before have national regulators collaborated so early in thedevelopment of an advanced SMR. By aligning safety requirements and expectations from the start, EAGLES is taking an important step towards harmonised regulation — which is essential for the smooth commercial application of the technology.
The collaboration with newcleo fits seamlessly into this broader strategy. By working together on LEANDREA, EAGLES and newcleo lay a solid foundation to eventually bring Lead Fast Reactors to market. This not only strengthens Europe’s position in reliable, low-carbon nuclear technology but also contributes to a future-proof energy transition.
