Business from technology

Eija Karita Puska

Current position at VTT

Chief Research Scientist, Research Coordinator (Nuclear Energy), Team Leader (Nuclear power plant modelling)

Research background and current research topics

My professional career at VTT started with Master’s Thesis on application of nuclear fuel thermomechanical behaviour models. During the first eight years of my career I worked with analysis of nuclear fuel behaviour and completed in 1984 also my Licentiate thesis in the area on stress corrosion cracking failure vulnerability in light water reactor fuel rods.

In 1986 I was enlisted into the just starting development project of APROS simulation environment. Since then APROS, developed and owned together by VTT and Fortum, has become a success story. My tasks with APROS have involved development of the nuclear reactor core models and applications of the code in nuclear area. I have been project manager in two full-scope simulator nuclear simulator software deliveries and in several safety analyses applications. I have also worked at six short IAEA expert missions dealing with APROS.  Currently my main tasks on APROS are on the managerial side and in tutoring student work.

Since 1999 I have been involved in the administration of the Finnish national research programmes on reactor safety. First in 1999-2002 as research co-ordinator of the Finnus programme, then as director of the SAFIR programme 2003-2006 and since 2007 as director of the SAFIR2010 programme.

Current major research projects at VTT

SAFIR2010, Finnish National Research Programme on Nuclear Safety 2007-2010, Programme Director.

APROS code development and applications in nuclear area. Member of Steering Group. Project Manager in several commercial projects and tutor in VTT or co-funded research projects.

Education

Doctor of Technology, 1999, Helsinki University of Technology

Licentiate of Technology, 1987, Helsinki University of Technology

Master of Science in Technology, 1979, Helsinki University of Technology

Work history

Professional career at VTT:
1978-1979 Research Trainee
1979-1991 Research Scientist
1991-2009 Senior Research Scientist
2009-  Chief Research Scientist

Positions of trust and professional assignments

President of the Finnish Nuclear Society (ATS) 2009-

Nominated expert of the Finnish delegation to the Euratom CCE-Fission Consultative Committee 2003-

Selected publications

Preliminary validation of the APROS 3-D core model of the new Loviisa NPP training simulator.
Ranta-aho, Anssu; Syrjälahti, Elina; Puska, Eija Karita; Honkoila, Karri; Poittinen, Olli.
NUTHOS-7, 7th International Topical Meeting on Nuclear Reactor Thermal Hydraulics, Operation and Safety. Seoul, Korea, 5 - 9 Oct. 2008. 14 p.

APROS couplings from core to containment.
Puska, Eija-Karita; Ylijoki, Jukka.
Mathematics and Computation, Supercomputing, Reactor Physics and Nuclear and Biological Applications. Avignon, France, 12 - 15 Sept. 2005, CD-ROM. American Nuclear Society

Studies with large 3-D core models for simulator purposes.
Puska Eija Karita; Norrman Sixten.
Nuclear Mathematical and Computational Sciences: A Century in Review - A Century Anew. Gatlingburg, Tennesee, April 6 - 11, 2003 on CD-ROM. 13 p. American Nuclear Society

Severe accident recriticality analyses (SARA).
Frid, W.; Höjerup, F.; Lindholm, Ilona; Miettinen, Jaakko; Nilsson, K.; Puska, Eija Karita; Sjövall, Heikki.
Nuclear Engineering and Design, 2001. vol. 209, 1 - 3, ss. 97 - 106

Nuclear reactor core modelling in multifunctional simulators.
Puska, Eija-Karita.
1999. Espoo, VTT. 67 p. + app. 73 p. VTT Publications; 376. ISBN 951-38-5361-6; 951-38-5364-0

Other publications