The DARWIN project runs over three years, structured into four interconnected work packages that build progressively from understanding future needs through to conceptual reactor design and dissemination of results.

Work Package 1 – Assessment of Applications (Year 1 to Year 2)

The project opens with a broad investigation into the future landscape of energy needs. The team reviews scientific predictions for climate change, natural disasters, migration patterns, and geopolitical shifts, and examines current trends in energy and electricity production. Drawing on this foundation, specific use cases for DARWIN modules are identified, including desalination, floodwater pumping, silicon doping, isotope production, radiochemistry, and peak electricity generation. This work package concludes at the end of Year 2 with a comprehensive case study report (Milestone 1).

Work Package 2 – Integrated Design Requirements (Year 1 to Year 3)

With use cases established, the team translates them into precise reactor design requirements. Four distinct module concepts are developed in parallel. The fast response module is designed for load-following electricity production and emergency floodwater pumping. The high flux module is optimised for isotope production, silicon doping, and radiochemistry. The high temperature process heat module serves hydrogen production, desalination, wastewater treatment, and district heating and cooling. The natural nuclear fuel module explores the use of natural uranium or thorium as primary fuel, for scenarios where enriched fuel may not be available. This work package delivers a consolidated report on module concepts and reaches Milestone 2 once all physical parameters are defined in Year 3, Quarter 1.

Work Package 3 – Assembly Design (Year 2 to Year 3)

The most technically intensive phase, this work package addresses the fundamental reactor design quantities for each conceptual module: ensuring criticality throughout the fuel cycle, establishing reliable reactivity control mechanisms, designing adequate cooling and decay heat removal systems, determining radioactive inventory, and exploring how individual assemblies interconnect into self-contained deployable modules. Machine learning algorithms, Monte Carlo particle transport codes, depletion codes, and computational fluid dynamics tools are all brought to bear. Five dedicated deliverables cover each design feature, culminating in Milestone 3, a master compiled report on the full module conceptual design in Year 3, Quarter 4.

Work Package 4 – Management and Dissemination (Years 1 to 3, continuous)

Running throughout the entire project, this work package manages quality, risk, and scientific output. The team publishes results in leading peer-reviewed journals and presents at major international nuclear conferences. Contacts are established with potential partners in industry, civil engineering, public authorities, and policy. A dedicated website and open science channels provide a platform for broader community engagement. The work package concludes with two major milestones: a presentation of the DARWIN platform at a major nuclear conference (Milestone 4), and a comprehensive final roadmap report serving as the definitive starting point for the next phase of DARWIN’s development (Milestone 5).