(ANSA) - ROMA, JUL 2 - After the joint venture formed with the Slovak state company Javys to build four small fourth-generation reactors at the Jaslovske Bohunice site, Newcleo, Italy's nuclear unicorn is looking eastward with a development plan targeting waste recycling in the former Soviet and Balkan area. Target countries would include, in addition to Slovakia, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Lithuania, whose Ignalina power plant, currently being decommissioned, houses 2,500 tons of spent nuclear fuel. Founded by Stefano Buono in 2021, the French-Italian startup is now present in five countries, with 19 offices, more than 1,100 employees and €570 million in private capital raised in three years. Newcleo's technology involves the development of small liquid-lead-cooled nuclear reactors, a system that provides the reactor with total passive safety and the advantage of being able to use nuclear waste from third-generation water-cooled plants as fuel. The technology, which combines power generation from new nuclear power with recycling of past waste, represents a strategic breakthrough for a sustainable energy transition. Indeed, small modular reactors (SMRs) can play a crucial role in decarbonizing and stabilizing power grids, especially in a context where renewable sources, such as solar and wind, are subject to intermittency'. The Slovak example, where the joint venture with Javys contemplates the construction of four small reactors totaling 800mw and the reuse of waste from the Bohunice power plant, paves the way for Newcleo's strategy, following a logic of circular economy and development of local communities and nuclear supply chains. It takes 2,500 people to build a 200mw reactor at Newcleo, while 400 are employed to operate the plant over its 60-year life. Added to this are savings on the financial forecasts that governments are required to allocate for nuclear waste management. 'With the entry of nuclear power into the EU's green taxonomy, the adoption of a nuclear Ipcei (Important Project of Common European Interest) in Brussels, the opening of the EIB and the World Bank to finance the sector, advanced technologies such as Newcleo's,' says a company spokesperson, 'pave the way for virtuous triangulations of international financial support in a circular, zero-emission economy context. (ANSA).