Additionally, as a specialist in thermal-hydraulic phenomena, he provides technical support for heat-utilization systems such as hydrogen production, as well as key systems including the IHX and RCCS.
Tetsuaki Takeda, Ph.D.
Assistant Chief Nuclear Officer, ZettaJoule KK
As Assistant Chief Nuclear Officer, Tetsuaki Takeda is responsible for supporting the CNO on the ZettaJoule advanced small modular reactor project, conducting safety evaluations, and developing, operating, and verifying/validating analysis codes for safety reviews.
Most notably
Tetsuaki led pioneering research that clarified air-ingress behavior during primary coolant pipe rupture accidents (depressurization) in high-temperature gas-cooled reactors, enabling enhanced safety features currently in use in HTGR designs.
He is the co-author and editor of High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactors.
In recognition of his long-standing research on heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and high-temperature gas-cooled reactor safety, he received the Achievement Award from the Power and Energy Systems Division of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers and the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Thermal-Hydraulics Division of the Atomic Energy Society of Japan in 2024.
Professional experience
Prior to joining ZettaJoule KK, Tetsuaki served as a research professor at the University of Yamanashi, a national university corporation, where he continued his internationally recognized research on heat transfer, fluid dynamics, and the safety of high-temperature gas-cooled reactors.
He was elected a Fellow of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers in 2013 and has served on organizing committees and presented extensively at the International Conference on Nuclear Engineering (ICONE).
Tetsuaki is formerly the Japanese Representative and Co-Chair of the Generation IV International Forum Very High-Temperature Reactor System Steering Committee and previously served as the Japanese Representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Technical Working Group on Gas-Cooled Reactors.
He held the positions of Senior Researcher and Head of the Safety Demonstration Research Laboratory at the High-Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR).
He spent 18 months as a visiting researcher in the field of heat transfer and fluid dynamics in fusion reactors and tritium extraction from liquid lithium in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Tetsuaki is Professor Emeritus at the University of Yamanashi.
Education
Tetsuaki graduated from the Department of Nuclear Engineering, Kobe University of Mercantile Marine.
He was a visiting researcher in the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Tetsuaki earned a Doctor of Engineering from the University of Tokyo, specializing in HTGR air ingress phenomena.
More about Tetsuaki
Tetsuaki developed a heat exchange method that is currently being used in Japan’s Yamanashi Prefecture as an air-conditioning system for agricultural greenhouses.
In recognition of his work, he received the Yamanashi Science Academy Award in 2024.