It was a pleasure to welcome part of the Antimatter-OTech team to Lisbon for a preparatory hybrid meeting, marking the last step towards the official launch in the spring of 2026.
This Pathfinder Open project, joining institutions from France, the UK, Germany, Canada, Spain, and Portugal, will explore antineutrinos as a direct and non-intrusive probe of nuclear reactors. Antineutrinos are subtle particles, difficult to detect, yet with the potential to reshape how we monitor and understand reactor operations.
A first-of-its-kind and ambitious approach, the antineutrino detector will be built at Instituto Superior Técnico (Tecnico Loures) and later deployed in the north of France, close to one of the most powerful nuclear reactors operated by EDF.
Looking ahead with energy and purpose, the team is ready to learn, test, and push what nuclear reactor monitoring can become in the near future.
Partners:
CNRS (Coord. Anatael Cabrera)
EDF
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
University of Sussex
Queen’s University
UK Research and Innovation – Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Laboratório de Instrumentação e Física Experimental de Partículas
Instituto Superior Técnico (iBB, C2TN, IDMEC, CQE).