Modeling and Simulation of Nuclear Power Plant and Reactor

Dear Colleagues,

It is difficult to envision the nuclear energy landscape and technological advancement without nuclear reactor modeling and simulation. The application boundaries of this technology are continuously expanding, integrating traditional nuclear fields (such as the design and safety analysis of pressurized water reactors and fast reactors), while also playing a critical role in emerging scenarios, including space nuclear power systems (e.g., energy supply for lunar bases), energy installations in extreme environments (e.g., polar floating nuclear power plants), nuclear waste transmutation, and decommissioning strategy optimization. This trend has driven rapid advancements in nuclear reactor modeling across multiphysics coupling algorithms, high-performance computing frameworks, data-driven modeling tools, and experimental validation techniques. These developments are characterized by "high fidelity, high computational efficiency, multiscale integration, and strong robustness," supporting the design of reactors toward miniaturization, modularization, and intelligence. On the other hand, the increasing application of nuclear energy in complex scenarios such as deep-space exploration and urban heating has imposed higher requirements for reliability assessment of reactors under extreme conditions (e.g., ultra-high temperature, strong irradiation, microgravity), prompting in-depth research in academia and industry on uncertainty quantification, fault prediction, and real-time control.

This Special Issue aims to compile and disseminate the latest research advancements in nuclear reactor modeling and simulation, covering core areas such as theoretical methods, design optimization, modeling and simulation, engineering applications, control strategies, and verification technologies.

Topics of Interest (including but not limited to):

• Multiphysics coupling modeling theories and methods for pressurized water reactors (PWR), sodium-cooled fast reactors (SFR), molten salt reactors (MSR), high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGR), and other reactor types
• Special environment adaptation modeling technologies for advanced nuclear energy systems (Generation IV reactors), space nuclear power (e.g., lunar/Mars reactors), and industrial steam supply reactors
• Modeling and analysis for safety-critical scenarios, including dynamic simulation of severe accidents (core melt, containment failure) and reliability assessment of passive safety systems
• Innovative applications of new reactor concepts, such as floating nuclear power plants, small modular reactors (SMR), and nuclear–hydrogen coupling systems modeling and optimization
• Multiscale modeling techniques and cross-scale coupling algorithms
• Digital twin technology applications in the full lifecycle of reactors, including real-time monitoring, remaining life prediction, and decommissioning simulation
• Machine learning and AI-driven modeling approaches, such as neutron transport acceleration algorithms, thermal–hydraulic surrogate models, fault diagnosis, and control optimization
• High-performance computing (HPC) and parallel algorithm innovations, such as large-scale parallel computing for neutron transport on exascale supercomputers and heterogeneous computing architecture optimization
• Uncertainty quantification (UQ) and verification and validation (V&V), including nuclear data uncertainty propagation analysis and experimental data-driven model calibration
• Thermal-hydraulics and computational fluid dynamics topics, such as phase change heat transfer in supercritical water-cooled reactors (SCWR) and high-resolution simulation of complex flow fields in sodium-cooled fast reactors
• Structural mechanics and material performance modeling, such as multiscale simulation of irradiation damage and prediction of fuel assembly mechanical degradation
• Real-time simulation and control validation technologies, such as process model development for DCS testing, hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) simulation platform construction

Dr. Peiwei Sun
Dr. Xinyu Wei
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• nuclear reactor modeling
• multiphysics and high performance simulation
• data-driven modeling
• nuclear energy integrated application
• machine learning and AI-driven modeling
• digital twin technology