MSc in Nuclear Engineering
fully taught in English

NREG.png

Expertise and Composition of the Group

The Nuclear Reactor Engineering Group of has specific teaching and research expertise in the following areas:

  • Decommissioning and Waste Management,
  • Reactor Physics,
  • Existing and Innovative Nuclear Fission Plants (Gen II, Gen III and III+, Gen IV, SMR)
  • Severe Accidents
  • Nuclear Fusion Engineering
  • Nuclear Materials
  • Nuclear Measurements and Instrumentation
  • Structural Mechanics and Nuclear Construction
  • Radiation Protection
  • Nuclear Safety
  • Nuclear Thermohydraulics.

Currently, the Group is strong of:

  • 4 full professors
  • 3 associate professors
  • 1 fixed-term researcher - type B 
  • 3 fixed term researchers - type A. 

Main experience in the nuclear sector

The national and international projects in which the Group has been involved in recent decades have concerned various aspects related to the nuclear energy sector.

  • Decommissioning and Waste Management: 
    • decommissioning strategies and management and characterization of waste and nuclear materials;
    • design and qualification of containers for the transport and temporary and permanent storage of radioactive waste;
    • participation in the UNI technical bodies and in the Scientific Council of SOGIN;
    • anti-terrorism detection and "nuclear security" systems.
  • Reactor Physics: 
    • development of deterministic numerical and deterministic-stochastic hybrid models for neutron transport;
    • design of advanced reactor cores and reactor configurations for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT);
    • support for particle physics experiments;
    • use of the most common Monte Carlo codes for radiation transport (MCNP, OpenMC, Serpent);
    • use of the deterministic PartiSN code.
  • Severe accidents in nuclear installations:
    • modelling analysis of severe accidents and prediction of relevant transients in installations (MELCOR, ASTEC and ECART codes);
    • modelling activities on the behaviour of dusts in fusion reactors, in collaboration with ENEA Frascati and RSE – Milan.
  • Structural Mechanics and Nuclear Constructions:
    • mechanical design and design and safety analysis in relation to internal and external events at reactors with ANSYS, MARC, PATRAN, COMSOL, DYTRAN codes;
    • analysis of the problems of degradation and aging of nuclear components (in support of the extension of operation, LTO);
    • development of innovative HPC and AI methodologies for monitoring and predictive maintenance of nuclear fission and fusion plants.
  • Networking for higher education:
    • education and training (E&T) programmes at European level with ENEN and Fusenet;
    • training of TSO staff in cooperation with ENSTTI.
  • Fusion Reactors:
    • thermo-hydraulic and safety studies of blanket refrigeration systems (WCLL) for ITER and DEMO (with codes RELAP5, SIMMER, MELCOR, ECART);
    • analytical and experimental studies of the behaviour of fusion reactors in the event of an accident (small and large scale equipment).
  • Nuclear instrumentation and measurements and radiation protection:
    • radiation protection management activities at the level of Radiation Protection Expert;
    • measurements of environmental radioactivity;
    • shielding design;
    • experimental testing of radioactive gas filter systems (for EdF);
    • design of dosimetry and sensor equipment.
  • Nuclear thermohydraulics:
    • aspects of thermohydraulics of advanced reactors (AP600, SBWR, AP1000, EPR, VVER, LFR, SCWR, VVER);
    • use of calculation codes for the thermohydraulics of light water nuclear reactor systems and innovative (RELAP5, CATHARE) and CFD codes (FLUENT, CFX, STAR-CCM+);
    • experimental activities on passive systems (heat and mass transfer, natural and gas-injection assisted circulation (with own experimental equipment and in collaboration with SIET and the ENEA Brasimone center);
    • interaction of liquid metal with water in refrigeration systems (SIMMER code); thermo-hydraulic and safety study of small modular reactors (SMR).

Activities and projects in progress or under development

  • IAEA activities:
    • Participation in IAEA CRP on supercritical water reactors and liquid metal cooled fast reactors;
    • Participation in IAEA technical bodies.
  • European Platforms and more:
    • Participation in the European platforms SNETP, NUGENIA (various technical areas), ESNII, IGD-TP, EURAD 2.
    • Agreement between the University of Pisa and the Joint Research Centre (JRC).
    • Participation in GIF, EUROFUSION, Nuclear Energy division of ASME
  • Participation in national/international consortia and projects:
    • Participation in the CIRTEN Consortium.
    • Association with the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN).
    • Participation in numerous PRINs and projects funded under the Programme Agreements (AdP).
    • Support for the decommissioning of CISAM's RTS-1 reactor;
    • IRMA project (POR CreO FESR Regione Toscana) on systems for the detection of gamma and neutron sources in containers;
    • PRIMIS project (POR CreO FESR Tuscany Region) on the development of radiation detectors in hostile environments.
    • Memberships of AIN, ANS, ENS, UIT.
    • U.S. NRC Cooperative Severe Accident Research Program (CSARP)
    • U.S. NRC Code Application and Maintenance Program (CAMP)
  • Main European and international projects:
    • European projects on passive safe reactors (DABASCO, SCACEX, INCON, THINS).
    • European OperaHPC project for the development of Accident Tolerant Fuels.
    • European project EVIDOS for dosimetry in mixed gamma and neutron fields.
    • Networks of excellence and European projects on severe accidents (SARNET, SARNET2, EU PHARE, NUGENIA TA2, MUSA, SEAKNOT, INNOMUSA proposal).
    • ASCOM in-kind project under NUGENIA TA2 related to the validation of the ASTEC code.
    • European projects related to supercritical pressure light water reactors (THINS, ECC-SMART, current E-START proposal).
    • European projects related to Education and Training in the nuclear sector (NEPTUNO, ENEN II, ENEN III, ENEN RU II, PETRUS, GENTLE, ANNETTE, ENEN+, ENEN++).
    • Experiments on particle physics Mu2e and DUNE under construction at Fermilab.
    • Fusion research activities funded by EUROFUSION and Fusion4Energy.
    • Contracts with ITER for experimental activities.
    • European projects on liquid metal cooled reactors (THINS, LEADER, SEARCH, SESAME, MYRTE, PATRICIA, ANSELMUS).
    • European projects related to reactors with Russian technology (CAMIVVER, CAMI-NEXT proposal).
    • European projects on the preparation of radioactive waste (PETRUS, PREDIS).
    • European projects on the safety of existing reactors (NARSIS, TACIS Project U3.01/05 - UK TS 36) and on strategies for fourth generation reactors (ESNII Plus).
    • European projects related to light water SMR reactors (ELSMOR, TANDEM. EASI-SMR proposal).