Invited Speakers | NURETH-21

Plenary 1. Technology Innovation for Nuclear Sustainability

Date: September 1 (Mon), 2025
Time: 09:20-10:40
Venue: Grand Ball Room 301 (3F)
Speakers:

Plenary 1 Session Overview Download

Last Name Alphabetical Order

Regulation and Research for Demonstrating and Deploying Advanced Nuclear Systems

Toyoshi Fuketa

Head of Decommissioning

Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation

Japan

Short Biography

Dr. Toyoshi Fuketa is Head of Decommissioning at Nuclear Damage Compensation and Decommissioning Facilitation Corporation (NDF) and concurrently serves as Senior Researcher at Department of Nuclear Engineering and Management of the University of Tokyo.

Dr. Fuketa was sworn in as a Commissioner of the Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) on September 2012, when the NRA was established following the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident. After the five years as a Commissioner, he served as the Chairman of the NRA for another five-year term until September 2022.

Prior to becoming a Commissioner of the NRA, Dr. Fuketa engaged in nuclear safety research programs at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI) and at Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) for twenty-five years and performed various experiments regarding reactor fuel behavior during accidents. He was honored by ASTEM international with William J. Kroll Zirconium Medal. He received Ph.D (1987), MS (1984) and BS (1982) in Mechanical Engineering Science from the Tokyo Institute of Technology (Institute of Science Tokyo).

Field of Interest or Research

Severe Accident, Steam Explosion, Risk-informed Regulation, Reactor Decommissioning and Dismantling

Thermal Hydraulics Innovation Enables Global Nuclear Energy Resurgence

W. David Pointer

Division Director

Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division

Oak Ridge National Laboratory

United States

Short Biography

W. David Pointer leads the Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. More than 80 years ago, nuclear energy found a home in the valleys of East Tennessee and never left. Today, the innovative experts of ORNL work to translate the latest scientific discoveries into market-ready technologies that power our lives here on earth and fuel our exploration of our universe.

Dr. Pointer is a recognized expert in the thermal hydraulics and safety of both conventional and advanced nuclear energy systems. He has extensive experience in the application, validation and development of computational fluid dynamics software as well as a strong background in experimental fluid dynamics methods for nuclear energy system and component design and licensing.

Field of Interest or Research

Development of integrated multi-physics simulation toolsets for advanced reactor design and safety analysis which leverage high performance computing to provide unprecedented predictive power and precision.
Development and calibration of CFD-based simulation capabilities for boiling flows to support industry application to current fuel performance issues.
Development and execution of advanced separate effects experiments to support the design of advanced reactor concepts, including VHTR and SFR systems.
Validation of higher fidelity thermal and fluid simulation methods
Application of CFD methods to a variety of engineering problems in the areas of power generation, energy efficiency and transportation.

Shaping the Future of Nuclear Energy: Thermal Hydraulics, Key to Robust Defense-in-Depth and Severe Accident Management

Véronique Rouyer

Head of Division

Nuclear Safety, Technology and Regulation Division

OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA)

France

Short Biography

Ms Véronique Rouyer is Head of the Division of Nuclear Safety Technology and Regulation of the Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA), since August 2019, coordinating the development of effective and efficient regulation and oversight of nuclear installations, and helping to maintain and advance the scientific, technological knowledge base and safety research experimental activities.

Prior to joining the NEA, Ms Rouyer was the Safety Research Director at the Institut de radioprotection et de Sûreté Nucléaire (IRSN). From 2009 to 2016, she gained extensive experience in the development and coordination of scientific programme plans as Deputy Director for the scientific projects, strategy partnerships division after a long carrier supporting criticality safety activities. Ms Véronique Rouyer holds a Graduate Chemical Engineering Master Degree in the Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse and a Master Degree in Nuclear Engineering from the Institut National des Sciences et Techniques Nucléaires (INSTN).

Field of Interest or Research

Nuclear safety assessment, regulation and associated research activities

Plenary 2. Innovation to Disrupt and Stimulate Thermal Hydraulics R&D

Date: September 1 (Mon), 2025
Time: 10:50-12:10
Venue: Grand Ball Room 301 (3F)
Speakers:

Plenary 2 Session Overview Download

Last Name Alphabetical Order

From Models to Agents: Rethinking Safety Analysis in the Age of AI

Nam T. Dinh

Distinguished Professor

Department of Nuclear Engineering

North Carolina State University

United States

Short Biography

Professor Nam Dinh has over thirty years of R&D experience in nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics and safety. His research contributed to severe accident treatment in Light Water Reactor plants, nuclear system thermal-hydraulics modeling, experimentation, validation and analysis of multi-phase thermal-fluid phenomena. Dr. Dinh’s current research is focused on data-driven modeling, validation, and application of digital twins, machine learning, and artificial intelligence in advanced reactor’s safety analysis and nearly autonomous control.

Prior to NCSU, Dr. Dinh was with Center for Risk Studies and Safety at University of California, Santa Barbara, a chair professor of nuclear power safety at Sweden’s Royal Institute of Technology, and a Laboratory Fellow at Idaho National Laboratory. He is a NURETH Scholar, recipient of ANS-THD Technical Achievement award, and a Fellow of American Nuclear Society.

Field of Interest or Research

Nuclear Power Safety, Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, Severe Accidents, Boiling Heat Transfer

TBA

Kyun-Tae Kim

KINS (NSSC)

Korea, Republic of

Short Biography

TBA

Field of Interest or Research

TBA

Andreas Schaffrath

Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) gGmbH

Germany

Short Biography

TBA

Field of Interest or Research

Last Name Alphabetical Order

Spacer Grid Rewet during Reflood and Modeling Challenges for Thermal-Hydraulic Codes

Stephen M. Bajorek

Senior Technical Advisor

Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission

United States

Short Biography

Stephen M. Bajorek is the Senior Technical Advisor for Thermal-Hydraulics in the NRC's Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research and has nearly forty years of experience in the nuclear industry. He provides guidance for development of the TRACE state-of-the-art thermal-hydraulics code, advanced reactor analysis, and the NRC’s thermal-hydraulic test programs. He is currently leading the NRC's efforts to model and simulate advanced non-light water reactors. Dr. Bajorek represents the NRC in international thermal-hydraulic research projects and has served on U.S. State Department missions in support of U.S. industry interests.

Prior to joining the NRC he was a member of the faculty at Kansas State University and has over 15 years of industrial experience as a code developer and analyst. He has authored or co-authored over 200 publications in areas ranging from boiling and two-phase flow, reactor safety, advanced nuclear plant analysis, natural convection, and boiling of multi-component fluids.

Dr. Bajorek received his Ph. D. from Michigan State University, with M.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

Field of Interest or Research

Nuclear reactor thermal-hydraulics, reflood heat transfer, boiling and two-phase flow

TBA

Yunje Cho

Korea Atomic Enegy Research Institute

Korea, Republic of

Short Biography

TBA

Field of Interest or Research

Fission Products Scrubbing in Water Ponds during Severe Accidents:

An Efficient Means of Attenuating Source Term

Luis E. Herranz

Head of the Unit of Nuclear Safety

Nuclear Fission

Centre of Research for Energy, Environment and Technology (CIEMAT)

Spain

Short Biography

Ph.D. from the Polytechnique University of Madrid (UPM) in 1996.

Research Professor since 2015, he has been leading the Unit for Nuclear Safety Research for more than 20 years. As a result of his research in national and international projects, he has published more than 150 papers in refereed journals in the areas of Severe Accidents, Nuclear Fuel Thermo-mechanics, Thermal-hydraulics of Passive Safety Systems and Power Cycles in Nuclear Technology. He has been the technical coordinator of some recent EURATOM projects in the area of nuclear safety.

He is currently the leader of the Technical Area 2 (Severe Accidents) of SNETP/NUGENIA and was the Chair of the WGAMA (Working Group of Analysis and Management of Accidents) of OECD/NEA between 2016 and 2021. At present, he is member of: the Advisory Board of WGAMA, the Working Group on Fuel Safety (WGFS), and the Expert Group of Small Modular Reactors (EGSMR).

With a strong committed to teaching and training, he lectures regularly in national and international graduate and post-graduate courses.

Field of Interest or Research

Severe Accidents
Fuel Thermo-mechanics (in-reactor and in dry-storage casks) under Transient & Accident Conditions
Safety of Advanced Reactor Designs (water-cooled and non-water cooled)
Power Cycles for HTGRs

TBA

Eung Soo Kim

Seoul National University

Korea, Republic of

Short Biography

TBA

Field of Interest or Research

TBA

Hideo Nakamura

Technical Associate

Nuclear Safety Research and Emergency Preparedness Institute

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA)

Japan

Short Biography

Dr. Hideo NAKAMURA joined former JAERI in 1981 to work for the ROSA (Rig-of-Safety Assessment) program to study thermal-hydraulic (T/H) response during DBAs and BDBAs for both BWR and PWR simulating with large-scale experiments under reactor prototypical conditions. In 2001, he started to lead the research as a head of T/H Safety Research Group for both SAs and BDBAs.

In 2005, he started the OECD/NEA ROSA and ROSA-2 Projects with LSTF experiments, as the director of operating agent. After 2011, he supported the Fukushima-Daiichi Accident clarification tasks, while continuing fundamental work to assure safety assessment code reliability, including the scaling SOAR and core exit temperature subject for the NEA WGAMA.

Since 2015, he took a role of an executive editor of Nuclear Engineering and Technology (NET) for 6 years. Currently, he works for the WGAMA as its chair.

Field of Interest or Research

Thermal-Hydraulic & Severe Accident Safety Research for LWRs

- Multi-phase flows, heat transfer and measurement/instrumentation (DBA to SA)

- Integral & separate-effect tests at reactor prototypical conditions

- Phenomena scaling in reactor safety analyses

- Computer code development, verification and validation (V&V)

- Uncertainty quantification of reactor safety assessment by computer codes

Preparedness for Nuclear Emergencies (Reactor Accidents)
Engineering Ethics & Organizational Culture for Safety (Safety Culture)

TBA

Victor Petrov

Lead Research Scientist

Center for Nuclear Engineering and Sciences

PSI

Switzerland

Short Biography

Dr. Victor Petrov holds a Ph.D. in Engineering (Systems Analysis) from the Institute of Engineering Physics, Moscow, Russia. He also earned two master’s degrees from Bauman Moscow State Technical University: in Forensic Science, which concerned CFD modeling and investigation of fires and explosions, and in Nuclear Engineering, which concerned the application of CFD modeling for nuclear power plant optimization.

Dr. Petrov is currently a tenured lead research scientist at the Center for Nuclear Engineering and Sciences PSI Switzerland, ECMF lab Co-director at ETH Zurich, and remains affiliated with Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at the University of Michigan.

His prior experience includes various scientific and engineering positions in Russia. Recognized internationally, he has received multiple awards for his thermal hydraulics and reactor safety work.

Field of Interest or Research

Victor Petrov’s research is centered on advancing nuclear engineering through cutting-edge experimental research, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), and multi-physics simulations. He is particularly focused on the safety, performance, and optimization of light water, gas-cooled, and liquid metal-cooled reactors.

His expertise includes developing innovative measurement techniques, such as radiation-based, laser-based, and fluid property-based methods, to study single-phase and multi-phase flow dynamics with high precision. Petrov's work addresses critical phenomena like turbulence-induced thermal fatigue, buoyancy-driven turbulence, hydride formation, and CRUD deposition, providing vital insights for the validation of CFD models and reactor design improvements.

Additionally, he contributes to the advancement of compact reactor technologies, such as heat pipe microreactors, by investigating failure mechanisms and enhancing high-fidelity experimental databases. His multidisciplinary approach aims to solve pressing challenges in nuclear technology and to drive innovation in reactor safety and efficiency.

TBA

Guanghui Su

Xi'an Jiaotong University

China, People's Republic of

Short Biography

TBA

Field of Interest or Research

Heavy Liquid Metal Pool Thermal Hydraulic Experiments and Simulations

Katrien Van Tichelen

Safety Engineer

Belgian Reactor 2 (BR2)

SCK CEN

Belgium

Short Biography

In April 2024, Katrien Van Tichelen joined the BR2 Institute at SCK CEN, the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, where she is currently working as safety engineer and training to become vice-reactor manager for BR2.

Before that, Katrien was leading the research activities on liquid metal thermal hydraulics and component technology at SCK CEN. She joined the Liquid Metal Technology R&D team at SCK CEN after obtaining a master’s degree in mechanical engineering at the University of Leuven in 1998. In 2000, she completed her master in nuclear engineering.

Katrien is also lecturer on nuclear thermal hydraulics at the SCK CEN Academy and editor of the Elsevier Journal of Nuclear Engineering and Design.

Field of Interest or Research

Safety Analysis of Research Reactors
Liquid Metal Thermal Hydraulics: Experiments and Simulations

Flow-Induced Vibration Simulations of Key Nuclear Reactor Components

Kevin Zwijsen

Research Consultant

Thermal-Hydraulics

NRG PALLAS

The Netherlands

Short Biography

Kevin Zwijsen is a research consultant at NRG PALLAS in The Netherlands. He obtained his BSc and MSc in Mechanical Engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology, specializing in fundamental and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and heat transfer. He then worked on a PhD at McGill University in Montréal, Canada, in the department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, studying the “Effects of Turbulence on Droplet Growth in Clouds”. He has been in his present position since 2016, being part of the Reactor Analysis & operational Support (RAS) team at NRG. His research interests are Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI), which focuses on the interaction between the coolant and structural components of a nuclear power plant, Multi-Scale Simulations, which involves the coupling of CFD and System Thermal Hydraulics (STH) codes, and Reactor Pool Modeling of Fast Reactors, studying the thermal hydraulic behavior of the coolant in the full primary system of the reactor.

Field of Interest or Research

Fluid-Structure Interaction
Multi-Scale Simulations
Pool Thermal Hydraulics

Plenary 1. Technology Innovation for Nuclear Sustainability

Last Name Alphabetical Order

Plenary 2. Innovation to Disrupt and Stimulate Thermal Hydraulics R&D

Date: September 1 (Mon), 2025

Time: 10:50-12:10

Venue: Grand Ball Room 301 (3F)​

Speakers:

Last Name Alphabetical Order

Venue: Grand Ball Room 301 (3F)