Not AUKUS, but nuke sub related…..
☢️ Project MINERVA: Italy looks to nuclear powered submarines? 🧵
Last August SEGREDIFESA has awarded a PNRM (National Military Research Plan) called MINERVA (Marinizzazione Impianto Nucleare per l'Energia a boRdo di Vascelli Armati) for the Italian Navy.
The project aims to study the integration of a next-generation nuclear reactor on board a front-line combatant naval unit, for propulsion and electricity generation. The goal is to develop technological capacity mainly for upcoming national underwater constructions.
The project consists of 3 phases.
I Phase: study of the naval use of new generation reactors;
II Phase: concept design of a nuclear combat unit;
III Phase: comparison between existing units and ones with nuclear generation.
The companies involved are Fincantieri, Ansaldo Nucleare, RINA and CETENA.
It's important to highlight that Fincantieri, RINA and Newcleo signed an agreement in the summer of 2023 to study the application of Newcleo's SMRs to the propulsion of naval units.
Newcleo is an Italian startup founded in London in 2021 that aims to develop new LRFs.
The startup is also involved in the Italian Government's discussions, together with the energy giant ENEL and Ansaldo, for the reintroduction of nuclear into the national energy mix.
If the project were to be successful and the necessary political and economic conditions were to be preserved, we could see the application of this technology on board the NGS, the future class of submarines of the Italian Navy in post-2040.
**PNRM MINERVA official sources:
https://www.difesa.it/assets/allegat...d562cb7b88.pdf
https://www.difesa.it/assets/allegat...udicazione.pdf
