The Italian program began in 1989 with a budget of about 20 million $US, and had three main development areas:
# MHD Modelling.
# Superconducting magnet development. The goal in 1994 was a prototype 2m long, storing 66MJ, for an MHD demonstration 8m long. The field was to be 5teslas, with a taper of 0.15T/m. The geometry was to resemble a saddle shape, with cylindrical and rectangular windings of niobium-titanium copper.
# Retrofits to natural gas powerplants. One was to be at the Enichem-Anic factor in Ravenna. In this plant, the combustion gases from the MHD would pass to the boiler. The other was a 230MW (thermal) installation for a power station in Brindisi, that would pass steam to the main power plant.