Nuclear Power Reactor Development

Yoshiaki Oka is an emeritus professor at the University of Tokyo and is world renowned in the field of nuclear engineering. His work includes design and analysis of nuclear reactors and neutron transport; he developed the concept of the supercritical pressure water-cooled reactor (SCWR), also known as a Generation IV Reactor, studied globally. He has authored books on SCWR-Nuclear Power Reactor Development and Advances in Light Water Reactor Technologies-by Springer, and he has published approximately 230 peer-reviewed journal articles. ScholarGPS ranks him second as a scholar in "nuclear reactors" and 16th in "nuclear power".

He contributed to nuclear engineering research and education at the University of Tokyo as an assistant, associate, and full professor from 1976 to 2010, playing a crucial role in launching the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Management, and the Nuclear Professional School at the Graduate School of Engineering, the University of Tokyo. In the 2000s, he was a leader in preparing textbooks on nuclear engineering, and the two English editions of his books were published by Springer as the first two volumes in the book series An Advanced Course in Nuclear Engineering. He was also a professor at Waseda University between 2010 and 2014, initiating its Nuclear Engineering Department.

Prof. Oka served as the chairman of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission between 2014 and 2020. Since then, he has studied the issues arising from the interface between nuclear utilization and society.