Deadline: 8-Nov-23
The European Commission (EC) has announced the Euratom Research and Training Programme (EURATOM) to support nuclear and radiation techniques for EU strategic autonomy, circular economy and climate change policies.
Scope
- The potential for innovative ionising radiation applications is enormous and should support the EU’s strategic autonomy, circular economy and climate change policies. The areas are extensive and concern applications of charged particle beams (accelerators), x-rays, radioisotopes (alpha, beta and gamma emitters) and neutrons. For example, radiometric techniques and radioisotopes as tracers allow for monitoring climate change effects on ecosystems and soil, water and air pollution. Irradiation processes offer advantages over typical thermal and chemical processes, including higher throughput rates, reduced energy consumption, lower environmental pollution, more precise process control and products with superior qualities.
- The development of nuclear and radiation techniques can help diversify the supply of secondary critical raw materials from non-EU countries and within Europe. Action in this area should develop EU capacity for innovative exploration and production of secondary raw materials and/or recovery/recycling of raw materials from spent nuclear fuel, e.g. rare-earth metals (lanthanides).
- In environmental protection and monitoring, an action should modify existing quality assured nuclear techniques and develop new ones to provide complementary solutions for conventional climate adaptation and climate science technologies. These solutions should help build EU resilience and reduce EU vulnerabilities in land use and management, smart climate agriculture, food production systems, analysis of greenhouse gas emissions, management of water resources, and ocean and coastal protection.
- On pollution, the development of radiation technologies and isotopic tracing techniques offer solutions, for instance, to waste water treatment or to characterising and assessing microplastic pollution while allowing for recycling and transforming waste into reusable resources. Action in this area could cover sorting challenges, waste treatment and transformation into secondary products, cleaner production and recycling processes, reducing the use of potentially harmful additives and solvents and delivering energy savings.
- All potential solutions using nuclear techniques are expected to:
- Improve radiation protection of personnel, expertise in radiation protection, safety and security of radioactive sources, waste management, and reduce contamination risk, loss or theft.
- Be combined with newly emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data or metamaterials, thereby stimulating innovation and promoting a robust, world-leading nuclear technologies sector based on EU safety culture and know-how.
- Aim at ‘open innovation’, involving a broad range of actors from research and academic communities, industry, entrepreneurs and users. It should bring together multidisciplinary teams to generate ideas and solutions in an open innovation environment by increasing investment and bringing more companies and regions into the knowledge economy.
- Provide valid data from experiments, with the full chain of traceability with smallest reachable uncertainties as the best input for decision-makers.
- This action could focus on closer-to-the-market activities, including prototyping, testing, demonstrating, piloting and scaling up new or improved products, processes or services. Proposals may include limited R&D activities and demonstrate European added value. Activities are expected to focus on Technology Readiness Levels 5 to 7 (indicative but not mandatory, depending on the innovative potential field).
Funding Information
- The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 7.00 million
- Beneficiaries may provide financial support to third parties. The maximum amount to be granted to each third party is EUR 60 000.
Expected Outcome
- Project results are expected to contribute to some of the following expected outcomes:
- Contribute to the EU’s strategic autonomy by demonstrating concepts and solutions using nuclear and radiation techniques for producing critical raw materials, recovering rare-earth metals (lanthanides) from any waste, including radioactive waste and spent fuel, and exploring their market potential.
- Contribute to the EU’s circular economy by demonstrating concepts and solutions using nuclear and radiation techniques to reduce, recycle and reuse non-radioactive waste from domestic and industrial sources and explore their market potential.
- Contribute to climate change adaptation by demonstrating concepts and quality assured services for applications of nuclear and radiation techniques to monitor climate change and pollution of ecosystems and explore their market potential.
Eligible Countries
- To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
- the Member States of the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), including their outermost regions; Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.
- The Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States
- Aruba (NL), Bonaire (NL), Curação (NL), French Polynesia (FR), French Southern and Antarctic Territories (FR), Greenland (DK), New Caledonia (FR), Saba (NL), Saint Barthélemy (FR), Sint Eustatius (NL), Sint Maarten (NL), St. Pierre and Miquelon (FR), Wallis and Futuna Islands (FR)
- Countries associated to the Euratom Programme: Ukraine.
Eligibility Criteria
- Any legal entity, regardless of its place of establishment, including legal entities from nonassociated third countries or international organisations (including international European research organisations) is eligible to participate (whether it is eligible for funding or not), provided that the conditions laid down in the Horizon Europe Regulation have been met, along with any other conditions laid down in the specific call topic.
- A ‘legal entity’ means any natural or legal person created and recognised as such under national law, EU law or international law, which has legal personality and which may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations, or an entity without legal personality
- Beneficiaries and affiliated entities must register in the Participant Register before submitting their application, in order to get a participant identification code (PIC) and be validated by the Central Validation Service (REA Validation) before signing the grant agreement. For the validation, they will be asked to upload the necessary documents showing their legal status and origin during the grant preparation stage. A validated PIC is not a prerequisite for submitting an application.
- Legal entities established in Russia, Belarus, or in non-government controlled territories of Ukraine are NOT eligible to participate in any capacity. This includes participation as beneficiaries, affiliated entities, associated partners, third parties giving in-kind contribution, subcontractors or recipients of financial support to third parties (if any). Exceptions may be granted on a case-by-case basis for justified reasons.
Specific cases:
- Affiliated entities — affiliated entities (i.e. entities linked to a beneficiary which participate in the action with similar rights and obligations to the beneficiaries, but which do not sign the grant agreement and therefore do not become beneficiaries themselves) are allowed, if they are eligible for participation and funding.
- Associated partners — Associated partners (i.e. entities which participate in the action without signing the grant agreement, but without the right to charge costs or claim contributions) are allowed, subject to any conditions regarding associated partners set out in the specific call conditions.
- Entities without legal personality — Entities which do not have legal personality under their national law may exceptionally participate, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf, and offer guarantees to protect the EU’s financial interests equivalent to those offered by legal persons
- EU bodies — Legal entities created under EU law including decentralised agencies may be part of the consortium, unless provided for otherwise in their basic act.
For more information, visit European Commission.