Prioritization of research in nuclear thermal-hydraulics

The difficulty in predicting locally and globally the transient evolution of two-phase or multiphase flows in complex systems is well recognized in nuclear thermal-hydraulics. Large efforts involving the expenditure of huge resources during the last three decades in previous century brought to the creation of giant databases (e.g. including experimental data and results of computer code calculations) and to the perception that the safety of nuclear reactors is guaranteed notwithstanding residual areas of unawareness. Nowadays, thousands of scientists continued to generate progress in the area having available much lower resources: more and more dead-ends for established research outcomes are experienced; the progress in knowledge resembles the slow expansion of a swamp rather than the fast moving of a river. In this paper a procedure is proposed to identify directions for research in nuclear thermal-hydraulics which are consistent with the needs in nuclear reactor safety. Two pillars for the procedure are constituted by the characterization of phenomena and by the application of computational tools. Decision makers and scientists may prioritize research in areas where large impacts upon design and safety issues are identified in advance.