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Topic · Aerospace Engineering

Nuclear reactor physics and engineering

Nuclear reactor physics and engineering is a research topic within Aerospace Engineering. Science Explorer counts 51k research works in it since 1950. 10.0% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers advanced nuclear reactor technology, including topics such as molten salt reactors, neutron transport, Generation IV reactors, the thorium fuel cycle, and small modular reactors. It also discusses the development and application of Monte Carlo codes, lead-cooled fast reactors, transmutation processes, and nuclear data libraries.

  • Nuclear Reactor
  • Molten Salt
  • Neutron Transport
  • Generation IV
  • Thorium Fuel Cycle
  • Monte Carlo Code
  • Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor
  • Transmutation
  • Small Modular Reactors
  • Nuclear Data Library
Research works
51k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
5.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+9%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
32% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Nuclear reactor physics and engineering

Which countries lead Nuclear reactor physics and engineering research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.9k and 1.5k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 1.9k works
  2. 2 United States 1.5k works
  3. 3 Russia 475 works
  4. 4 Japan 378 works
  5. 5 France 365 works
  6. 6 India 306 works
  7. 7 Germany 273 works
  8. 8 South Korea 263 works
  9. 9 Italy 220 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 199 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 32.2%United States: 26.1%Russia: 8.0%Japan: 6.4%6 others listed: 27.4%32%largest
China1,910 · 32.2%United States1,549 · 26.1%Russia475 · 8.0%Japan378 · 6.4%6 others listed1,627 · 27.4%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Nuclear reactor physics and engineering research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Nuclear reactor physics and engineering research, followed by Xi'an Jiaotong University and Idaho National Laboratory.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 219 works
  2. 2 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 207 works
  3. 3 Idaho National LaboratoryUnited States 206 works
  4. 4 Oak Ridge National LaboratoryUnited States 158 works
  5. 5 Commissariat à l'Énergie Atomique et aux Énergies AlternativesFrance 136 works
  6. 6 Tsinghua UniversityChina 124 works
  7. 7 China General Nuclear Power Corporation (China)China 120 works
  8. 8 Japan Atomic Energy AgencyJapan 119 works
  9. 9 Los Alamos National LaboratoryUnited States 106 works
  10. 10 Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 99 works

Who are the leading researchers in Nuclear reactor physics and engineering?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Nuclear reactor physics and engineering include M. Shoji, Zhong Lin Wang and M. Weber.

  1. 1 M. Shoji Japan 806k citations
  2. 2 Zhong Lin Wang United States 491k citations
  3. 3 M. Weber Israel 267k citations
  4. 4 Yi Ping Cui United States 261k citations
  5. 5 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  6. 6 A. Meyer France 224k citations
  7. 7 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  8. 8 G. Mitselmakher France 223k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Nuclear reactor physics and engineering?

The most cited paper in Nuclear reactor physics and engineering is "Geant4—a simulation toolkit" (Stefano Agostinelli et al., 2003), with 25,572 citations. Next come "Review of particle properties" (4,419) and "The Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test for Goodness of Fit" (3,745).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Geant4—a simulation toolkit Stefano Agostinelli et al. · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A Accelerators Spectrometers Detectors and Associated Equipment Open access127 authors 21 Jun 2003 25,572
2 Review of particle properties George P. Yost et al. · Physics Letters B Apr 1988 4,419
3 The Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test for Goodness of Fit Frank J. Massey · Journal of the American Statistical Association Mar 1951 3,745
4 ENDF/B-VII.1 Nuclear Data for Science and Technology: Cross Sections, Covariances, Fission Product Yields and Decay Data M. B. Chadwick et al. · Nuclear Data Sheets Dec 2011 2,883
5 Materials challenges in nuclear energy Steven John Zinkle, Gary S. Was · Acta Materialia 18 Jan 2013 2,657
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Nuclear reactor physics and engineering research done?

The largest centres of Nuclear reactor physics and engineering research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia), Xi'an (China) and Idaho Falls (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Saint-Paul-lès-Durance, Idaho Falls and Tōkai Mura.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 525 works
  2. 2 MoscowRussia 255 works
  3. 3 Xi'anChina 243 works
  4. 4 Idaho FallsUnited States 211 works
  5. 5 ShanghaiChina 183 works
  6. 6 Oak RidgeUnited States 158 works
  7. 7 ShenzhenChina 136 works
  8. 8 Tōkai MuraJapan 118 works
  9. 9 Los AlamosUnited States 116 works
  10. 10 ParisFrance 116 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Saint-Paul-lès-DuranceFR · 34.0 works269×
  2. Idaho FallsUS · 210.6 works240×
  3. Tōkai MuraJP · 117.8 works198×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Nuclear reactor physics and engineering than the world average.

See Nuclear reactor physics and engineering on the map

Where is the best place to study Nuclear reactor physics and engineering?

Among universities, judged by research, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Khalifa University of Science and Technology score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 21.85%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Shanghai Jiao Tong U…Khalifa University o…Xi'an Jiaotong Unive…Tsinghua University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 78.219.8%18.1×207 +25.8%
2Shanghai Jiao Tong UniversityChina 73.224.7%5.3×99 +175.6%
3Khalifa University of Science and TechnologyUnited Arab Emirates 64.120.6%8.7×14 +113.5%
4Tsinghua UniversityChina 60.911.0%8.3×124 +24.4%
5Sichuan UniversityChina 60.533.9%1.4×21 +202.5%
6Harbin Engineering UniversityChina 59.412.8%25.7×86 +55.4%
7Michigan State UniversityUnited States 58.324.4%1.9×9 +27.8%
8University of Science and Technology of ChinaChina 57.718.3%5.6×43 +18.5%
9Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 56.523.6%1.5×16 +201.6%
10Dalian University of TechnologyChina 56.329.4%2.0×12 +224.1%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Nuclear reactor physics and engineering, country by country

Is Nuclear reactor physics and engineering research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 9% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Nuclear reactor physics and engineering.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Nuclear reactor physics and engineering as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.035% in 2024.

still counting0.10%0.20%Nuclear reactor physics and engineering0.029% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Nuclear reactor physics and engineering over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Nuclear reactor physics and engineering9.9% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Questions people ask

Who leads nuclear reactor research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Nuclear reactor physics and engineering research, followed by Xi'an Jiaotong University and Idaho National Laboratory. By volume, China and the United States publish the most (1.9k and 1.5k works in 2022-now).

All 1,273 questions in the Question Catalogue

Discussion

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