Environmental an safety studies for advanced nuclear energy systems, in the frame of a sustainable European Union energy programme

The rapid rise in nuclear energy use outside the EU (China, India, etc.) also means that the EU needs to maintain its global leadership and excellence in the technology and safety domains, also via the development and finalization of the ITER project, a first-of-a-kind nuclear fusion device being now built in France and aimed at the technological demonstration of fusion power reactors with cutting edge technology. Some of the relevant activities in these fields, carried out by our research group will be briefly reported. Waste management and radioactive safety studies for advanced fission and fusion power plants. Experiments and models for the safety characterization of blanket liquid breeders and materials: tritium inventory, transport and measurements. Development of compact high-field advanced fusion reactors (ARC project). Behaviour of nuclear materials under irradiation: neutron induced radioactivity, radiation damage.