Innovatome 2024 competition : TA is committed to fostering innovations that benefit the nuclear industry

With its operations at the heart of the nuclear industry, TechnicAtome is actively involved alongside SFEN—the French Nuclear Energy Society—and its youth division, SFEN JG. The company supported the Innovatome competition, which took place on Saturday, April 6, and Sunday, April 7, in Châtillon at Orano’s facilities.

For the 2024 edition, TA served as a “silver sponsor” of the Innovatome competition for the first time; the event was open to all students and young professionals in the industry. Over two days, 35 participants divided into five groups had to put their heads together with one goal in mind: to come up with “brilliant ideas to revolutionize the nuclear industry.” On this theme, the multidisciplinary groups—formed that very day—were tasked with developing an innovative idea from an entrepreneurial perspective. Two workshops were offered beforehand to help participants understand the principles of a business model and, of course, the art of pitching. Throughout the two days, they were supported by “coaches,” including a TA employee representing the company at Sfen youth division.

As a sponsor, TA was invited to serve on the judging panel. Olivier Huet, TA’s Deputy CEO, therefore took part in the evaluation process to select the winning projects from among those “pitched,” alongside SFEN President Guillaume Dureau (Orano) and the other jury members. The innovation that caught their attention was “CoolAtom,” a system for capturing heat from the tertiary circuit of nuclear power plants.

The competition aims to encourage the emergence of innovative nuclear technologies, applications, or systems at the national and international levels. For this reason, the winning team will represent France at the I4Europe competition, which will take place on June 27 in Sofia, Bulgaria.