ANItA - A new Swedish national competence centre in new nuclear power technology

In 2021, a proposal was submitted to the Swedish Energy Agency, which meant that the three leading Swedish universities: Uppsala University, KTH and Chalmers as well as the Swedish and Finnish nuclear power industry would together form a national competence centre for research and development work regarding the introduction of small modular reactors in Sweden. The proposal, called, ANItA (Academic-industrial Nuclear technology Initiative to Achieve a sustainable energy future) entailed a commitment for ten years and was granted funds for the first five years with an option for continued funding for the following five years. The initial research portfolio includes fourteen projects spanning a wide range of technical and non-technical aspects of small modular reactor (SMR) technology. During the last few months, the projects have been staffed with both national and international doctoral students and postdocs and thus constitute a contribution to securing the important supply of expertise in the nuclear field in Sweden. ANItA has attracted great interest from the surrounding society, which includes both politics and mass media and discussions are being held with potential new industrial partners. The renewed interest in new nuclear power in Sweden has further strengthened ANItA's role and the development is moving in a direction that enables to fulfil the basic idea behind ANItA, namely that through research and development work produce knowledge-based decision support for politicians and policymakers in the introduction of new nuclear power technology in Sweden.