High-assay low-enriched uranium metal (HALEU) is a critical resource required for the operation of research reactors and the production of pharmaceutical radioisotopes. Its availability is essential for advancing nuclear energy safety, materials science, basic scientific research, and the performance of about 40 million nuclear medicine procedures worldwide each year. Until recently, EU has relied on Russia and the USA for its supply of HALEU. Russian supplies are expected to be unavailable for an extended period, and the future availability of US supplies remains uncertain: it is thus imperative for EU to establish its own HALEU production capacity. The PreP-HALEU initiative represents a preparatory phase aimed at producing essential components and evaluating the technical pathways for establishing this capacity in EU. This project consortium brings together all key stakeholders, including enrichment companies, fuel manufacturers, research organizations, and medical radioisotope producers. Through this collaborative effort, PreP-HALEU intends to: • Generate substantial technical, economic, and regulatory information to support the decision-making process. • Foster alignment among the countries and parties involved in establishing a EU HALEU capability as a shared asset. Within the framework of PreP-HALEU, the quantitative requirements for HALEU metal will be updated, and working groups will delve into enrichment, metallization, and transportation considerations. The integration of these elementary bricks will be extensively discussed to create a coherent project dynamic and consistently consolidate results into an executive summary, a key input for the decision-making phase. The PreP-HALEU project, initiated in response to the NRT01-11 call for proposals, is a cornerstone in the establishment of a EU production capacity for metal HALEU. It plays a pivotal role in securing activities in the fields of research, healthcare, and innovation throughout EU.

Safety Assessment of Non-Electric uses of nuclear energy (SANE) project investigates the potential of non-electric usage of nuclear energy, the safety aspects of reactors designed for non-electric use as well as the safety implications of the end use. As many of the applications are novel, their use needs to be properly communicated to various stakeholders, and for this the project includes work on risk communication. Non-electric uses are identified in EU SMR pre-Partnership as one of the high level R&D needs, and the understanding of the potential applications and their limitations as well as the challenges in integration of nuclear energy to end use were seen as important issues to be studied. Non-electric uses will be an important way to diversify the income streams of nuclear plants, as the electricity production will become more and more competitive. Nuclear has unique advantages in non-electric uses as it can produce lot of energy locally for large local uses. SANE aims to review potential future uses of nuclear energy in order to facilitate their implementation in the near future. This project aims to provide information for both industrial applications retrofitted to operating nuclear power plants, as well as for novel reactors dedicated for non-electric uses. Information needs for appropriate risk communication is studied with case studies in several countries, and a specific study on communications during abnormal situations is done based on the events that transpired in Ukraine during Russia's invasion.

The ECC-SMART is oriented towards assessing the feasibility and identification of safety features of an intrinsically and passively safe small modular reactor cooled by supercritical water (SCW-SMR), taking into account specific knowledge gaps related to the future licensing process and implementation of this technology. The main objectives of the project are to define the design requirements for the future SCW-SMR technology, to develop the pre-licensing study and guidelines for the demonstration of the safety in the further development stages of the SCW-SMR concept including the methodologies and tools to be used and to identify the key obstacles for the future SMR licencing and propose a strategy for this process. To reach these objectives, specific technical knowledge gaps were defined and will be assessed to achieve the future smooth licensing and implementation of the SCW-SMR technology (especially the behaviour of materials in the SCW environment and irradiation, validation of the codes and design of the reactor core will be developed, evaluated by simulations and experimentally validated). The ECC-SMART project consortium consists of EU, Canadian and Chinese partners to use the trans-continental synergy and knowledge developed separately by each partner. The project consortium and project scope were created according to the joint research activities under the International Atomic Energy Agency, Generation-IV International Forum umbrella and as much data as possible will be taken from the already performed projects. This project brings together the best scientific teams working in the field of SCWR using the best facilities and methods worldwide, to fulfil the common vision of building an SCW-SMR in the near future.

The main goal of M4F project is to bring together the fusion and fission materials communities working on the prediction of microstructural-induced irradiation damage and deformation mechanisms of irradiated ferritic/martensitic (F/M) steels. M4F project is a multidisciplinary one, were both modeling and experiments at different scales will be integrated to foster the understanding of complex phenomena associated to the formation and evolution of irradiation induced defects and their role on the deformation behavior. In addition, an attempt to reduce the gap between the materials science activities as model and experiments, and the needed inputs on design codes will be included

Gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) is considered as one of the six most promising advanced nuclear reactor technologies, supported worldwide by the Generation IV International Forum and ESNII in Europe. It excels in versatility, combining very high core outlet temperatures and the possibility to close the fuel cycle, allowing for very efficient and sustainable electricity and industrial heat production. The SafeG proposal presents a Research and Innovation action aiming at connecting developers of the ALLEGRO reactor (V4G4) with European and international experts having experience in GFR and HTR research, who will utilize their unique expertise, knowledge and experience, bringing fresh ideas to the GFR development to the SafeG project will bring the GFR research and development in Europe a major step forward. It is divided into 7 Work Packages, four of them dealing with open research and development problems of GFRs, namely the core safety and proliferation resistance (WP1), advanced materials and technologies (WP2), decay heat removal (WP3), standardization and codes (WP4). Additionally, a major part of the effort (15 % of the total budget) will be dedicated to education and training activities sheltered by WP5. Dissemination and outreach activities are included in WP6 while WP7 ensures smooth management and execution of the project. The main objectives of the SafeG project are: - To strengthen safety of the GFR demonstrator ALLEGRO - To review the GFR reference options in materials and technologies - To adapt GFR safety to changing needs in electricity production worldwide with increased and decentralized portion of nuclear electricity by study of various fuel cycles and their suitability from the safety and proliferation resistance points of view - To bring in students and young professionals, boosting interest in GFR research - To deepen the collaboration with international non-EU research teams, and relevant European and international bodies