Could you briefly explain what N/A Nuclear Advisory does and how your expertise supports the development of the nuclear sector and the broader energy transition?
N/A Nuclear Advisory was founded by professionals with extensive hands-on experience in nuclear power plant projects across Europe, North America, and Asia. Members of our core team have worked directly on construction sites and EPC environments, while our broader network includes specialists with experience in long-term operation (LTO) preparation and decommissioning activities.
Our role is to support companies that want to enter or expand within the nuclear sector as suppliers of products or services, often highly capable industrial players who are new to the specific constraints, expectations and trust of the nuclear market.
N/A Nuclear Advisory supports industrial companies in becoming credible, audit-ready suppliers for the nuclear sector by translating nuclear standards into practical, actionable steps through structured approaches such as our Nuclear Ready program, enabling organizations to build robust processes and interact effectively with nuclear operators and EPCs.
If I had to use a metaphor, we act as alpine guides. The nuclear sector is a mountain: complex, highly regulated, and unforgiving to improvisation. Many companies have the technical strength to climb it, but lack familiarity with the terrain. We guide them through the landscape of quality requirements, qualification processes, and nuclear safety culture, which are essential to operate credibly in this environment.
In your view, what opportunities do SMRs create for companies and institutions working within the nuclear sector, particularly in terms of licensing, engineering, project development, and supply chain readiness?
SMRs create a significant opportunity because they enable the serial production of nuclear-grade products and systems, rather than one-off FOAK (First-Of-A-Kind) projects. This shift toward repeatability fundamentally changes the risk profile of nuclear projects.
From a supply chain perspective, working in series allows suppliers to stabilize manufacturing processes, qualification evidence, and quality controls. Once a component or process has been qualified for nuclear use, the same level of accuracy can be replicated across multiple units, reducing supply risks, uncertainty, and variability compared to traditional large-reactor projects.
This approach also has clear implications for licensing and engineering. Standardized designs and repeatable components support more structured qualification strategies and clearer regulatory interfaces, while engineering efforts can focus on optimization and verification, rather than continuous redesign to follow the project changes.
From a project development standpoint, serial production improves predictability in cost, schedule, and performance. For suppliers, it also creates the opportunity to leverage nuclear-grade manufacturing capabilities beyond a single project, potentially applying them to other high-value or highly regulated sectors where similar quality, traceability, and reliability requirements exist.
Overall, SMRs change the business model of the nuclear supply chain: they enable risk reduction for suppliers and create the conditions for operating nuclear-grade production within a stable, standardized, and industrialized framework.
From your perspective, what is a critical challenge within the SMR supply chain that is still receiving too little attention, especially in relation to component qualification, regulatory processes, or workforce skills?
One of the most critical challenges for SMRs today is the licensing process for components, products, and services. For SMRs to scale, licensing approaches need to become more harmonized, at least at the European level, and more compatible with an industrial, repeatable deployment model.
A useful parallel can be drawn with the aerospace sector. An aircraft is allowed to fly not because it is built in a specific way, but because it demonstrates compliance with shared and well-defined safety requirements, supported by standardized qualification and certification processes. A similar philosophy is needed for SMRs, especially for components and systems that are intended to be produced and deployed in series.
A second, closely related critical issue concerns materials. SMR concepts often rely on either new materials or on new manufacturing processes for existing materials, introduced to enable serial production, advanced performance, or cost reduction. However, approving and qualifying these innovations within the current nuclear regulatory framework remains complex and slow.
The challenge is therefore not only to certify new materials, but also to license modern production processes that can guarantee the same, or better levels of safety, quality, and traceability as traditional approaches, while being compatible with industrial-scale manufacturing. Addressing these two aspects, licensing harmonization and material/process qualification, is essential for SMRs to move from prototypes to true industrial and number deployment.
If we had to highlight one project, service, or initiative from N/A Nuclear Advisory that best aligns with the themes of the conference, which one would it be and why?
The initiative that best aligns with the themes of this conference is Nuclear Ready, our structured preparation program designed to support companies that already offer high-quality products or services, but are not yet familiar with the specific requirements of the nuclear sector.
It is important to clarify that N/A Nuclear Advisory is not a certification or qualification body. Nuclear Ready does not replace formal certification or third-party qualification processes. Instead, it prepares companies to successfully face those processes, by building the necessary organizational, technical, and cultural foundations.
Nuclear Ready is built on the direct experience of our partners, who have supported and guided multiple companies through successful qualification paths in previous nuclear projects. This allows us to deliver targeted, practical preparation, focused on the real expectations encountered during audits and supplier qualification processes.
Structurally, Nuclear Ready is built around three steps:
- roadmap defining to the target level of nuclear compliance,
- gap analysis assessing company current status,
- gap filling, where we support the adaptation of processes, documentation, and quality systems, including audit preparation and supplier engagement.
A key feature of Nuclear Ready is its modular and customizable nature. It is designed both for SMEs approaching the nuclear sector for the first time and for larger companies that may need to upgrade, restructure, or strengthen a specific business unit to enter the nuclear supply chain. The program allows companies to perform intermediate evaluations and to stop or pause the journey without committing to the full cost and timeline upfront. This gives to the decision-makers the flexibility to reassess their strategy as the market evolves and to decide whether to continue, adapt, or explore alternative opportunities.
In the context of SMRs, this approach is particularly relevant. As demand for nuclear-grade components and services increases, the supply chain can only scale if a sufficient number of companies are properly prepared to meet nuclear standards. Nuclear Ready directly addresses this need by enabling industrial players to approach the nuclear market in a structured, credible, and audit-ready way, while clearly respecting regulatory boundaries and without overstepping certification roles.
Considering your strong experience in the Italian nuclear ecosystem, how do you see Italy’s potential role in the development of SMRs and in strengthening the European nuclear supply chain in the future?
The Italian nuclear supply chain has been recognized as ready to provide qualified contributions to upcoming European nuclear programs, including SMRs, due to its existing experience in delivering components compliant with international standards such as ASME and RCC-M.
Italy can play a central role in the revitalization of the European nuclear industry for several reasons:
- Industrial excellence: Italian manufacturers already produce components and systems with the precision and quality demanded by nuclear applications, and many companies have historical involvement in projects abroad.
- Strategic collaboration: Italian research and industry are increasingly engaged in European nuclear partnerships, including SMR development and technology cooperation with French and other European partners.
- Growth potential: As SMRs move toward commercialization, the supply chain will need an expanded base of qualified, industrial-scale suppliers, and Italy’s manufacturing ecosystem is well positioned to meet that demand.
Italian industry has demonstrated its capacity to manufacture specialized nuclear-grade components, including forged piping and high-spec components used in international nuclear projects, as part of a competitive and high-quality European supply chain.
For Italy to fully realize this potential, domestic policy and regulatory frameworks also need to evolve. Updating national legislation to enable the construction of new nuclear plants on Italian soil would not only reduce reliance on electricity imports, but also anchor more of the supply chain and value creation within the country itself.
In this way, Italy could become a key hub for SMR deployment and for strengthening a European nuclear supply chain that is competitive, resilient, and capable of supporting industrial decarbonization across multiple sectors.