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Nuclear Systems Safety Engineering Lab
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A lab that studies accidents and risks in fast reactors and small modular reactors to improve their safety.
AboutAbout the lab
Making the nuclear power of the future safer.
The Nuclear Systems Safety Engineering Lab conducts research to improve the safety of current nuclear energy and to develop next-generation nuclear power systems.
Its central subject is the sodium-cooled fast reactor, which uses liquid metallic sodium as its coolant.
Using thermodynamic calculations and experiments, the lab examines how radioactive materials behave in a major accident, and also advances research on safety systems specific to fast reactors.
The lab also works on probabilistic risk assessment that includes human behavior during accidents, and on risk assessment for small modular reactors.
Key terms
- Sodium-cooled fast reactor
- A next-generation nuclear reactor that causes fission with fast neutrons and uses liquid metallic sodium as its coolant.
- Aerosol
- Very small liquid or solid particles suspended in air or other gases.
- Probabilistic risk assessment
- A method of numerically estimating how often accidents occur and what consequences they would have if they did.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab works to improve the safety of today's nuclear energy and conducts research and development toward innovative next-generation nuclear power systems. Its scope ranges from accident phenomena, safety systems, and material properties in sodium-cooled fast reactors to risk assessment that includes human behavior.
*Illustrative imageRadioactive materials during fast reactor accidents
When fuel fails in a fast reactor, fission products are released into the sodium and undergo chemical reactions. Using thermodynamic calculations, chemical reaction analysis, and experiments with sodium, the lab studies the behavior of cesium compounds in particular. In collaboration with the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, it also studies the transport and capture of aerosols.
*Illustrative imageSafety systems for fast reactors
Because sodium is opaque, structures inside it are inspected with ultrasound. The lab works on improving sensors and materials that can be used in sodium, on developing simulation-based methods to optimize the design of devices that remove impurities, and on methods of observing the inside of sodium with synchrotron radiation.
*Illustrative imageProperties of materials in nuclear facilities
The lab investigates the properties of materials used in nuclear facilities and of substances formed at high temperatures during severe accidents. Through experiments and simulations, it studies the substances produced by reactions between sodium and concrete, and the mechanism by which voids form inside the fuel debris produced in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident.
*Illustrative imageRisk assessment that includes human behavior
The lab targets human behavior and equipment operation in harsh environments, which conventional probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) has not adequately considered. It evaluates the burden on workers and the probability of human error under high radiation doses, high temperatures, and high humidity, and develops more realistic risk assessment methods.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Nuclear Systems Safety Engineering Lab consist of faculty members and students in the doctoral, master's, and undergraduate programs.As of 2026
- Project ProfessorKazuhiro Sawa
- Associate ProfessorMunemichi Kawaguchi
- Assistant ProfessorSunghyon Jang
VoicesStudent voices
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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: “Monju )” IAEA Imagebank / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Radioactive materials during fast reactor accidents: “Portrait of Global Aerosols” William Putman, NASA/Goddard / Public domain (cropped)
- Safety systems for fast reactors: “Sodium metal chunks in oil” W. Oelen / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Properties of materials in nuclear facilities: “Aerial photo of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant 2021” 資源エネルギー庁 / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Risk assessment that includes human behavior: “Dice” PierreSelim / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nuclear Environmental Materials Lab): “Onkalo driving tunnel” kallerna / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nuclear Power Support Social Infrastructure Technology Lab): “Advanced Test Reactor” Argonne National Laboratory / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Energy Conversion Systems Lab): “Fuel cell NASA p48600ac” 作者不詳 / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Quantum Beam Materials Analysis and Harsh-Environment Semiconductor Device Engineering Lab): “Syn diamonds” 2x910 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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