EIMV at the NENE 2026 conference

The 35th international Nuclear Energy for New Europe conference, NENE 2026, took place in Portorož from 7 to 10 September 2026. This year's conference drew 257 participants from 23 countries, with 141 papers presented. Reactor component modelling was the central theme of this year's contributions, and participants also paid close attention to new measurement technologies and advanced simulation tools that allow more accurate prediction of reactor system behaviour.

EIMV was represented by Kristijan Nonkulovski, who presented the paper "Integrating Radioactive Waste Management into the Safe and Sustainable Deployment of Small and Advanced Modular Reactors" (N. Železnik, K. Nonkulovski, M. Iglič), based on the results of two international projects: FORSAFF, which addressed radioactive waste management for new reactor types, and ECOSENS, which focused on improving governance in the nuclear field. The paper pointed out that radioactive waste management for small and advanced modular reactors (SMR/AMR) is often only addressed once the reactor design has already been adopted. For reactor types with little operating experience behind them, this carries real risk. Dealing with the waste question late can slow down licensing, extend interim storage, and weaken public trust. The paper also introduced a new integrated governance framework model for SMR/AMR project implementation.

With this paper, we presented EIMV's research work in nuclear energy and radioactive waste management. The conference was also a chance to exchange experience directly with experts from other countries and to learn about the latest approaches to designing reactors of all types and insights that will feed into EIMV's continued work in this field.