Nuclear Energy System to Go (IT – PoliTo; 2026). NES2Go

Overview

NES2Go is an ECM & NET collaboration on the potential for nuclear energy clustering to support the clean energy transition in Europe, framed in a master’s thesis scholarship by Politecnico di Torino in Italy. Continuing from the RES2Go tool (PIECE project), an advanced techno-economic optimisation engine is developed, designed to evaluate the operational viability of nuclear cogeneration in energy intensive industries (EIIs) and clusters. Building directly upon the robust geospatial and empirical baseline provided by RES2Go, NES2Go deploys the highly granular data to match localised industrial demand with best-fit SMRs from a large database of proposed reactor designs. By executing a dynamic dispatch kernel that accounts for thermodynamic constraints, single-unit refuelling outages, and load flexibility, this synergistic pipeline transforms theoretical reactor metrics into actionable, site-specific roadmaps. The result delivers Pareto-optimised SMR fleet configurations that minimise spatial footprints, fuel consumption, load-following mismatch, and costs for targeted industrial hubs.

Objective

The main objective of this master’s thesis project is to investigate nuclear energy clustering in Europe, by building a scenario-based optimisation tool for SMR implementation in EIIs and clusters and integrating it in the UGent RES2Go tool (PIECE project).

Team

prof. dr. ir. Greet Van Eetvelde
prof. dr. Riccardo Rossa (NET)
Luca Mastrandrea
Thijs Duvillard (Phd researcher)