Dr. Daniel Orea is an R&D Associate in the Energy Systems Development Group within the Nuclear Energy and Fuel Cycle Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. His research areas include experimental and computational thermal-hydraulics related to nuclear energy systems. He also supports the development of molten salt technology by performing two-phase flow measurements using non-intrusive optical techniques for model validation.
Dr. Orea’s background stems from a B.S. in Physics, M.S. in Nuclear Engineering, and a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering. While working on his Master’s, Dr. Orea studied experimental flow mixing effects in the cold-leg of a PWR using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) that served as a benchmark for CFD uncertainty quantification. His Ph.D. research focused on the internal pressure and temperature measurements of an annular wick heat pipe for model development and micro-reactor applications.
His major projects and accomplishments include:
- Cold Leg Mixing CFD-UQ Benchmark: conducted experiments to analyze fluid velocity and concentration in the presence of buoyancy effects using Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) and Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF)
- Development of Measurement Techniques for Quantifying Fission Product Transport in a Gas-cooled Fast Reactor under the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) program.
- Experimental determination of suitable LIF dye in molten salt for natural circulation and force flow full field temperature measurements.
- Internal pressure and temperature measurements in a wrapped wick annular heat pipe using high-accuracy pressure transducers and Optical Fiber Distributed Temperature Sensors (OFDTS).
Links
Publications
Jul, 2026
Conference Paper
Characteristics of Molten Salt Aerosol Droplets Produced by Bubble Bursts
