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Miwa Lab (Visualization Laboratory)
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A thermal-hydraulics lab that visualizes flow to advance nuclear safety.
AboutAbout the lab
Visualizing the unknown in thermal-hydraulics.
Miwa Lab (Visualization Laboratory) combines experiments, numerical simulation, and AI to study the behavior of heat and flow (thermal-hydraulics) inside nuclear reactors and similar systems.
The lab aims to reveal the mechanisms behind invisible flow phenomena by visualizing them, and to apply this understanding to challenges such as developing next-generation reactors and decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
Its main research focus is multiphase flow, especially gas-liquid two-phase flow, in which gas and liquid flow together as a mixture.
The lab carries out joint research with research institutions, companies, and electric power companies in Japan and abroad, and it is an international lab with researchers and students from overseas.
Key terms
- Thermal Hydraulics
- Thermal-hydraulics: phenomena in which heat transfer interacts with the flow of fluids such as water and steam. It is essential for understanding how reactors are cooled.
- Gas-liquid two-phase flow
- A flow in which gas and liquid move together as a mixture. Boiling water flowing through a channel is one example.
- Aerosol
- Very small liquid or solid particles suspended in the air.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab integrates experiments using the latest measurement techniques, computational science, and AI-based data-driven observation to visualize previously unknown thermal-hydraulic behavior. On the fundamental side, it clarifies the mechanisms of thermal-fluid engineering; on the applied side, it works on developing next-generation reactors and decommissioning the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station.
*Illustrative imageDecommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi
The lab studies methods of capturing the very small radioactive particles (aerosols) released during fuel debris retrieval, using mist and electrically charged sprays. It is also researching ways to suppress particle dispersion by covering the debris with materials.
*Illustrative imageResearch and Development of Next-Generation Reactors
Together with multiple institutions, the lab works on designing new fuel for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors. It has also developed a method that uses large-scale particle simulations to predict how fragments of a damaged core accumulate during an accident in a fast reactor.
*Illustrative imageDevelopment of Light Water Reactors and Small Reactors
In collaboration with Hitachi-GE Vernova Nuclear Energy, the lab conducts experiments using a device that simulates the fuel of a new type of boiling water reactor (RBWR). It also studies steam injectors, which can supply water to the reactor core without an external power source.
*Illustrative imageData-Driven AI × Thermal-Hydraulics
The lab uses AI to classify flow regimes and detect bubbles from images of boiling flows. It is also developing models, trained on accident simulations, that can quickly estimate the size and location of a pipe break.
MembersFaculty
The members of Miwa Lab include faculty, senior and project researchers, academic support staff, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, interns, visiting students from overseas, visiting researchers, and advisors.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorShuichiro MiwaPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorRyo YokoyamaPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Buoyant jet” Left.tom / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Decommissioning of Fukushima Daiichi: “Units 1 to 4 of Fukushima I Nuclear Power Plant 2020” 資源エネルギー庁 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Research and Development of Next-Generation Reactors: “Nuclear fuel pellets at the Greifswald Nuclear Power Plant information center” Siarhei Besarab / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Development of Light Water Reactors and Small Reactors: “RIAN archive 132603 Nuclear power reactor fuel assembly (cropped)” Ruslan Krivobok / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Data-Driven AI × Thermal-Hydraulics: “Boiling water” GRAN / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Murakami Lab): “Chooz Nuclear Power Plant-9362” Raimond Spekking / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Abe Lab): “Tokamak WEST” Christophe Roux / IRFM / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Takata Lab): “Sequoyah Nuclear Power Plant cooling towers” Eric Evenson, USGS / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Demachi Lab): “Cooling towers of a nuclear power plant” Vsatinet / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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