High-level nuclear waste includes long-lived and high-radiotoxic radionuclides. An EU-funded project helps to solve this issue by carrying out the research needed to build a facility that is capable of splitting material with long radioactive half-lives into radionuclide products with 1 000 times shorter half-lives.
EU-funded researchers have discovered new families of proteins and enzymes that will enable the development of novel plant-based biomaterials, potentially providing viable sustainable and renewable alternatives to plastics and other fossil-fuel-derived materials and chemicals.
The European Commission is supporting a new European Joint research Programme on radioactive waste management, building on the far-reaching results of an EU-funded project that explored how best to pool resources, expertise and research and development efforts for the safe, efficient and secure treatment and storage of radioactive waste.
An EU-funded project is set to drive the commercial development of breakthrough laser-engineered products inspired by the unique skin and scale textures of animals and insects, potentially leading to entirely new applications across industry, energy and medicine.
An EU-funded project has developed an innovative substructure for wind turbines that dramatically cuts the cost of their installation in deep water. This could help harness wind energy further offshore.
Decay heat must be removed from the core of nuclear power stations. An EU-funded project demonstrated a reliable and efficient way of removing decay heat, without the need for external power sources, to enhance the safety of nuclear power plants even under potential (Fukushima-like) severe accident conditions.
Scientists are focusing on technologies for storing heat as a means of increasing the share of renewables in the energy mix. As part of this push, an EU-funded project is testing new materials that perform well at very high temperatures.
More efficient, longer-lasting machine and vehicle components, improved medical implants and novel fluid control technologies are just a few of the potential applications emerging from an EU-funded project inspired by the unique ways in which the skins of some animals interact with water.
An EU-funded project has helped bioenergy SMEs in six EU countries to become more economically sustainable/profitable and more competitive on the market by supporting them with technical, funding and management guidance, as the EU seeks to meet its climate and energy goals.
Deserts and other sun-drenched regions are the ideal location for concentrated solar power plants, but where sunlight is abundant water tends to be scarce. EU-funded researchers are solving this conundrum by developing technologies to comprehensively reduce water consumption, enabling CSP plants to play an even bigger role in addressing the world’s energy and climate change challenges.
