Preface: Special Issue on the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project

摘要

The Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) is a specialized agency within the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization based in Paris, France. As part of its mission, the NEA assists member countries in maintaining and furthering the scientific and technological knowledge required for safe, economical, and peaceful uses of nuclear energy. The state of this knowledge is often encoded in the increasingly complex algorithms that exist within our predictive computer codes. However, these codes are not developed in isolation; they are anchored to real-world applications through validation. Historically, and at significant expense, countries embarked on experimental programs to generate the experimental data needed for this validation. While much of this work was carried out decades ago, the experimental data generated during these campaigns still underpins our confidence in modern-day simulations of nuclear systems. Furthermore, the gaps identified during validation will continue to shape the direction of future research and development.