France’s Framatome has announced a strategic partnership with Inria, the French national institute for research in digital science and technology, to accelerate studies for long-term advancements and enhanced safety of operations for the nuclear industry. Framatome and Inria will utilise complementary skills in the integration of digital innovations to fast-track efforts to apply innovative safety approaches to nuclear plants.
“Inria’s diverse innovation pathways inspire scientific, digital and engineering excellence which makes them an excellent partner as we transform digital solutions for the future,” said Alexis Marincic, senior executive vice president, Engineering & Design Authority, Framatome.
The partnership will include regular collaborations and exchanges on research programmes, industry challenges and ad hoc training. Identified research themes include digital security, cybersecurity, embedded implementation of complex metamodels, industrial use cases, quantum computing, data science and artificial intelligence.
Bruno Sportisse, Chairman and CEO of Inria said: “The partnership with Framatome covers all fields: from the identification of research topics inspired by industrial cases to technological development and the creation of technological start-ups.” The assembly of the first joint Inria Challenge is currently underway with the implementation of a complex metamodel concentrating on numerical simulations. This allows experts and plant designers to define and predict the evolution of scenarios with potential impact on the safety of the reactor and its environment. The partnership will set up joint research teams to address the data system’s capacity and the uncertainties associated with modelling.
Image: Framatome and Inria have agreed to form a partnership to accelerate studies for long-term advancements and enhanced safety of operations for the nuclear industry (photo courtesy of Framatome)
