Istanbul Technical University Energy Institute hosted Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Spain graduate student Álvaro Antón Serres within the scope of the Erasmus+ exchange program. Student, Prof. Dr. She completed a significant part of her master's thesis under the supervision of Nilgün Baydoğan at ITU.

Title of the study:
“Analysis of the Safety of a PWR Nuclear Power Plant, Major Nuclear Catastrophes and Simulations of Critical Points in its Operation.”

Within the scope of the thesis:

• Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR) safety systems,
• Three major nuclear accidents in history (Chernobyl, Fukushima, Three Mile Island),
• Behavior of security systems in critical scenarios,
• iPWR (integrated Pressurized Water Reactor) simulations
      
has been analyzed in detail.

Álvaro Antón Serres completed the scientific content of his thesis during his time at ITU, and then made an academic evaluation of the outputs of his work by making a seminar presentation at the Energy Institute.

International Conference Presentation

Our student presented his thesis work as a paper at the international conference titled SMARTINDUSTRY 2025 – Smart Automation & Robotics for Future Industry (organizations based in England and Türkiye, via the EasyChair platform).

This study sought answers to the following questions:

• "How safe is a nuclear power plant?"
• "What is the probability of an accident?"
• "Could an accident like Fukushima or Chernobyl happen again?"

During the presentation, the student talked to his advisor Prof. Dr. He thanked Nilgün Baydoğan and emphasized that the academic support at ITU made a significant contribution to the development of the study.

Contribution to ITU's Internationalization Goals
This study has been an examplary practice in terms of

• ITU's Erasmus+ academic collaborations,
• International visibility in the fields of nuclear engineering and reactor safety,
• Involving young researchers in scientific production in ITU laboratories 

As the Energy Institute, we congratulate our student's success and hope that the UPC-ITU academic cooperation will continue to grow stronger.

Erasmus+ student Álvaro Antón Serres, thesis advisor Prof. Dr. After the seminar presentation he made with Nilgün Baydoğan at ITU Energy Institute.