Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT) is a national university in Finland, financed by the Ministry of Education. The University specialises in technology and economics. It has more than 3 700 students studying in the degree programmes, with an annual intake of about 700. In engineering departments the students aim for Master of Science in Technology. Postgraduate degrees include Licentiate in technology, Licentiate in Economic Sciences, Doctor of Technology, Doctor of Economic Sciences and Doctor of Philosophy. There are about 450 postgraduate students. Approximately 25% of LUT students complete part of their degree studies at partner universities in Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia.
The most outstanding characteristic of the University is the integration of expertise in technology and economics. The University's location on the border between the EU and Russia also has a great impact on the University's activities and orientation
The Department of Energy and Environmental Technology is the only university level research and training unit specialised in the energy branch in Finland. Graduates trained in Lappeenranta are employed as experts in the energy market, and environmental and energy industry issues. The students focus on power production, distribution and transmission as well as on the environmental impacts of energy utilisation. High velocity and environmental engineering as well as nuclear engineering are among the departmental strengths.

The following fields are included in the teaching of the Nuclear Engineering Laboratory: nuclear engineering, nuclear power plant safety, thermal hydraulics, reactor physics and dynamics, nuclear fuel cycle and waste management, studies of advanced NPP types, radiation protection, reliability engineering, fusion technology. The main research area is modelling of transients and accidents.

Since 1975 experimental studies on nuclear reactor thermal hydraulics have been carried out in the Nuclear Safety Research Unit. The work was started with a single fuel rod simulator facility for generic studies on the basic phenomena during the reflood phase of loss of coolant accidents (LOCA) and continued finally to the PACTEL (Parallel Channel Test Loop) facility simulating all the major components and systems of VVER-440 in volume scale 1:305. The unit has also several separate effect test facilities and a good readiness to construct new facilities for power companies and for power plant suppliers.
The following phenomena or situations have been studied with our facilities: rewetting, reflood, natural circulation in VVER-440 geometry, small break LOCA, loss of steam generator feed water, gravity driven emergency core cooling, counter current flow limitation, primary to secondary side leak accidents, anticipated transients without scram, behavior of boric acid, temperature stratification, behaviour of non-condensable gases in primary circuit, remove of decay heat in VVER-640, accident management of BWRs (alternative reactor trip systems, condensation pool, core catcher, isolation condenser).

LUT website: www.lut.fi