Blue Capsule co-founders talk to France’s Le Figaro TV

"It's not enough to develop an SMR design. You also have to be able to produce it." 

In case you missed it, Edouard Hourcade and Alexey Lokhov recently spoke to Le Figaro about making Blue Capsule a reality... Turning a conceptual design into a real-world solution for energy-intensive industry.

In Europe, this type of solution can help us do what we need to do: decarbonise. industrialise. secure our energy supply.

Industries like cement, alumina, chemicals and steel badly need a secure, sovereign, and low-carbon supply of heat and steam (especially 400°C to 750°C and above). Unfortunately, electrification isn't always viable.

We see that Europe's industrial competitiveness is being hit badly. Important sectors are suffering. Industries that employ tens of thousands of people and add billions of added value to our economies (direct and indirect).

We also know that process heat accounts for 10% of the world's annual CO2 emissions. At least 75% of this is produced by fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and imported natural gas. This does nothing to enhance our low-carbon ambitions, in the EU or elsewhere.

In any case, fossil fuel prices aren't stable, and we see all too clearly how imports are detrimental to our energy sovereignty. We need onsite solutions.

So the Blue Capsule team is doing everything it can to make its high-temperature reactor (or "HTR") a reality.

As our CTO Alexey Lokhov tells Agnes de Tyssandier d’Escous, Blue Capsule's success will largely depend on the industrial supply chain. This means "building on the existing supply chain in France – which is very robust.”

One of our priorities at Blue Capsule is to build solid partnerships in industry. And we're encouraged by the progress so far.

We're delighted to have partners such as France'sCEA,Egis,CSTI GROUPE, as well asMersen and Engie'sLaborelec among others. And investment in the project is progressing well, and sustainably.