MYRRHA researcher receives US recognition
MYRRHA researcher Julio Pacio wins Best Paper Award from American Nuclear Society. "It is quite an honour to receive this prestigious award. It is a professional recognition from my fellow scientists," said a proud Julio Pacio. It is the second time in two years that a paper of his has been awarded the prize.
The US organisation American Nuclear Society (ANS) is one of the premier bodies for anyone who embraces nuclear science and technologies and wants to make the world a significantly better place. ANS has several professional "departments" under its wing. They cover as many as eighteen technical topics and thermal hydraulics is just one of them.
Since 1989, the department has presented a Best Paper Award annually. That paper will be selected from all submissions to the conferences, which ANS sponsored the previous year. The award is presented for originality, creativity, impact and scientific integrity. This year's award went to MYRRHA researcher Julio Pacio for the computer model ‘Pacio-Chen-Todreas detailed model (PCTD)’. That computer model can predict flow patterns along fuel assemblies even more accurately. With that accuracy, scientists can determine and maintain safety margins in the context of licensing. For example, this could involve the maximum temperature for the fuel cladding. The model was developed in collaboration with S.K. Chen, Y.M. Chen, and N.E. Todreas: three recognised, scientific heavyweights. These experts revised some features of their UCTD model and a best fitting set of empirical parameters is obtained by calibration using an extensive experimental database. This experimental database was obtained from COMPLOT, one of MYRRHA’s experimental installations.
Twice in two years
"It is quite an honour to receive this prestigious award," said Julio Pacio. "My paper was selected out of 700 submissions, but most importantly for me, it is a recognition from fellow scientists in the field of thermal hydraulics." MYRRHA researcher Julio Pacio should be proud of himself. His name now appears twice in the Best Paper Award list. Few researchers have realised this previously.
So, double celebration! Or triple celebration? Our Argentine colleague Julio also has a World Cup victory to celebrate. Congratulations!
Would you like to find out more about the paper?
The paper "Identification of Open Issues in the UCTD Model and Proposed Improvements for Uses in Licensing" is available on SCK CEN Research Portal.