EURATOM

The European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) is a European organization, established under the Treaty of Rome in 1957 to coordinate the research programs of the EU Member States for the peaceful use of nuclear energy. The EU has its own Joint Research Centre (JRC) in the nuclear field. Originally established under the Euratom Treaty, the JRC then became an institution of prime importance for nuclear research in Europe.

Euratom research activities cover the following areas:

• energy from nuclear fusion, with the aim of developing a technology exploiting nuclear fusion as a safe, sustainable and environmentally-friendly energy source;
• Nuclear fission and radiation protection, to promote the safe use of nuclear fission to produce energy and other applications in industry and medicine.

The program is implemented through Contracts of Association between EURATOM and Member States or associated countries (e.g., Switzerland) or research organizations.

ENEA is the only Italian interface with EURATOM. It coordinates and plans all nuclear fusion research activities under the Contract of Association EURATOM-ENEA by ratifying specific collaboration or association agreements with other national research organizations.

Research is conducted in collaboration with the Italian National Research Council (CNR, Institute of Plasma Physics of Milan), Consortium RFX in Padua, Politecnico di Torino, CREATE Consortium (Universities of Cassino, Naples and Reggio Calabria), the University of Catania and the Universities of Rome “Tor Vergata” and “La Sapienza”.

In Europe, by volume of activity, the research group operating under the Euratom-ENEA Association ranks second only to Germany. Through the Association, ENEA has involved Italian industries in the programme implementation.

Within the European collaboration activities, particularly important is the joint management of the major nuclear fusion experiment JET (Joint European Torus - Culham, United Kingdom), where ENEA plays a leading role.

Through the European agency Fusion for Energy (F4E), Euratom participates in the realization of the international ITER project to produce energy from nuclear fusion, together with the EU, the Russian Federation, the United States, Japan, China, India and South Korea.

ENEA is also part of the Advisory Committee of the EURATOM Supply Agency, operating since 1960 and acting under the supervision of the European Commissioner for Energy.

The Agency's mission is to ensure that all EU users are regularly and equitably supplied with ores and nuclear fuels (raw materials and special fissile materials).