The French Society of Nuclear Energy was founded to support the French nuclear industry and research programs. As part of their effort to support and recognize nuclear scientists, the society awards the Jean Burgois Prizes every year to the best Ph.D.s in fields related to nuclear energy. Visiting assistant professor Dr. Mauricio E. Tano was the recipient of one of these awards in 2019. This highly competitive prize distinguished Tano as an outstanding researcher during his doctoral studies.
Tano’s Ph.D. dissertation explored the design of molten salt reactors (MSRs), a Gen-IV type of nuclear reactor. Unlike other reactors, MSRs use a liquid nuclear fuel consisting of a molten salt. While this allows for innovative use, it also complicates the reactor’s design, which must now be thought of in terms of other fields such as thermal hydraulics and chemical species transport.
Tano developed and experimentally validated a new series of coupled models that allowed for more efficient design and study of MSRs. His scientific developments will help nuclear engineers better understand the coupled multiphysics phenomena in MSRs, thus leading to the significant improvements in design and safety standards.