Expertise
Radioactive waste management, nuclear fuel cycle, safety assessment of repository and nuclear fuel cycle facilities, migration of actinides, fission products and heavy metals in geosphere and biosphere, nuclear technology in society, nuclear proliferation and security
Areas of Specialization
Research Clusters
Current status
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Accepting graduate students
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Professor
Engineering Physics
Overview
Currently Accepting Graduate Students
Research Interests
Transport of radionuclides for safe and secure radioactive waste management by integration of chemistry with physics
Despite any nuclear energy policies taken by government and utilities, the issue of management and disposal of used nuclear fuel is essential and critical for public acceptance of the policies. Without safe and secure radioactive waste management, the public and our society never accept nuclear energy.
In order to increase the confidence of Canadians and global societies in radioactive waste management, we are elucidating the sorption, diffusion and transport of key radionuclides in the final repository, geosphere and biosphere by integrating the chemical experiments with physical chemistry and quantum dynamics.
We are the only research group in Canada researching this area. We are collaborating with the Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Canada (NWMO), Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf and the University of Tokyo. Our research achievements will be used in the safety case studies of NWMO, other implementers and regulatory authorities in the world.
New risks and uncertainties in safety and security of waste management from Small Modular Reactor
Canada is taking the initiative of deployment of small modular reactors (SMR) in the world. However, there are few (or no) discussions of new risks and uncertainties by SMR in the nuclear fuel cycle and radioactive waste management.
We are studying the optimized SMR deployment in Ontario and Canada by mathematical models and identifying, analyzing and managing what types of risks and uncertainties have to be taken into account from inventories and compositions of radionuclides to economic, political/societal and environmental aspects quantitatively and semi-quantitatively.
Nuclear fuel cycle and radioactive waste management with social scientific literacy
There are many questions which can be asked of science and yet which cannot be answered by science. Nuclear fuel cycle and radioactive waste management are the typical subjects of so-called “trans-science”. By collaborating with social scientists and considering non-natural scientific and engineering knowledge such as Indigenous wisdom, we are examing how nuclear fuel cycle and radioactive waste management should be positioned in Canadian and global communities in the post-truth era. Examples of research are (i) the responsibility of nuclear engineers in nuclear engineering education and (ii) the Disposal safety assessment index consistent with indigenous values.
Did you know?
Dr. Nagasaki is
– a Fellow of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (Germany) and
– a Fellow of School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo.
April 1,1988 – Dec.31,1990
Engineer, Shikoku Electric Power Company Inc.
Jan.1,1991 – Oct.31,1993
Research Associate, Department of Nuclear Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan)
Nov.1,1993 – March 31,1995
Lecturer, Department of Quantum Engineering and Systems Science, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan)
April 1,1995 – March 31, 1999
Associate Professor, Department of Quantum Engineering and Systems Science, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo (Tokyo, Japan)
April 1,1999 – March 31, 2005
Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Studies, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo (Kashiwa, Japan)
April 1,2005 – March 31, 2012
Professor, Nuclear Professional School, Graduate School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo (Tokai, Japan)
During these period
March 1996 – June 1996
A Visiting Researcher of Research Center of Karlsruhe (now, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), Germany
June 1996 – September 1996
A Visiting Researcher of Research Center of Rossendorf (now, the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf), Germany
July 2010 – September 2011
A Visiting Professor, Department of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley
2012 – 2019
The Canada Research Chair in Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Radioactive Waste Management
B. Eng: the University of Tokyo (1986)
M. Eng: the University of Tokyo (1998)
Ph.D.: the University of Tokyo (1993)
2012 Achievement Award, Division of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Environment, Atomic Energy Society of Japan
1993 Young Researcher Award, Atomic Energy Society of Japan