The Nuclear Energy Group at Ben-Gurion University (BGU) conducts active research in the field of nuclear energy in the last 30 years. During this period, the BGU group acquired and developed a number of computer code systems focused primarily on reactor core simulations. In addition, a number of new reactor concepts were proposed and developed independently and as a part of research cooperation with several leading academic and R&D institutions in Europe and United States.
The contribution of the BGU group to the field of nuclear energy technology may be summarized in two areas:
1. Acquisition, maintenance, upgrades and development of new capabilities of computer codes for reactor analysis.
2. Innovative core and fuel cycle designs intended for enhancing proliferation resistance and Thorium-based fuel reactor designs.
The research is currently focused on continuation of development and verification of most of the computer systems mentioned above with the emphasis on specific requirements of Israeli nuclear engineering community.
Innovative core and fuel cycle designs will continue to constitute a major part of the R&D effort of the BGU group. The specific reactor projects are carried out on the level of conceptual design evaluations and on the level of detailed reactor core/fuel cycle designs aimed at maintaining a measure of technical knowledge and expertise required for understanding of major developments in the nuclear power technology field worldwide.
