Matteo Gherardi

Master's thesis/internship opportunity at ENEA

• Topic: Design of an experimental test section for the energy conversion system of a Surface Nuclear Reactor based on the AMTEC technology
• Where: Bologna
• Details: One of the key systems of an SNR is the one in charge of converting the thermal energy coming from the core into electrical energy for its use by the basecamp. In order to meet the stringent requirements of reliability and compactness needed new technologies must be developed or existing ones adopted to the specific context. Among the many concepts proposed, Alkali-Metal Thermo-Electric Converters (AMTEC) are particularly appealing thanks to their efficiency, no moving parts present and compactness. The technology readiness is however quite low, especially considering the peculiarity of the space context and thus the need to reduce man-driven maintenance to a minimum. This prompts for dedicated experiments to practically assess the technology increasing confidence in its performance while giving precious feedback to the design itself. The thesis will therefore focus on conceptualizing a reduced-scale experimental device based on the AMTEC technology able to capture the essential features of the reference system envisaged for the SNR both in terms of design and operating conditions. A test matrix will also be prepared in order to guide experimental activities towards combinations of operating conditions which should have priority

Published on: December 20 2025