Koroush Shirvan

Koroush Shirvan joined the faculty in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering in July, 2017. Previously, he was a principal research scientist at Center for Advanced Nuclear Energy Systems (CANES). He specializes in development and assessment of advanced nuclear reactor technology. He is currently focused on accelerating innovations in nuclear fuels, reactor design and small modular reactors to improve the sustainability of current and next generation power plants. His approach combines multiple scales, physics and disciplines to realize innovative solutions in the highly regulated nuclear energy sector. He is also the Director of Nuclear Reactor Technology course for utility executives.

• Nuclear News 40 under 40, 2024
• American Nuclear Society Landis Young Member Engineering Achievement Award, 2023
• American Nuclear Society Reactor Technology Award, 2022

Nuclear Reactor Design

I lead activities in design of optimum reactor concepts for electricity, industrial heat, ship propulsion and space surface power and propulsion. The state-of-art tools in modeling and simulation including in-house cost, construction schedule, decommissioning and risk analysis tools are employed to perform true design for cost optimization to enable commercialization of nuclear energy technology if end-application economic target can be achieved. Application of AI/ML to enable more optimized solutions and perform uncertainty quantification are also explored.

Nuclear Fuels and Materials

I lead activities including Accident Tolerant Fuels for water-cooled reactors, advanced manufacturing fuels for advanced reactors and high temperature moderators and structural materials for micro, small and fusion reactors. The experimental work involves irradiation of materials under extreme conditions leveraging ion beams and MIT reactor. Advanced diagnostics are employed to increase the value of irradiation and post-irradiation examination (PIE). The PIE includes thermophysical and mechanical characterization of samples. The computational work is typically based on finite element analysis on engineering and mesoscales with limited support from ab initio calculations. The work leverages wide range of characterization facilities available at MIT as well as partner research laboratories.

Nuclear Space Surface Power and Propulsion

I lead activities on development of in-core experiments for MIT reactor at the Nuclear Reactor Lab. MIT reactors is a 6 MWth reactor that is capable of operating with experiments at high temperatures (>1,000 K) with hydrogen flow. We are designing the test facilities to mimic conditions of nuclear rocket for qualification and understanding of performance of candidate fuel and structural materials. In parallel, we contribute to the design of surface power and nuclear propulsion technologies to enable human missions to Mars and beyond in deep space.