Turin to Host PHYSOR 2026, Major Reactor-Physics Conference for First Time

PHYSOR is crossing into Italy for the first time, and that alone gives Turin a new kind of gravity in the reactor-physics world. When newcleo and Politecnico di Torino welcome PHYSOR 2026 from April 19 to 23, the city will host more than 550 participants from over 30 countries, with roughly 540 scientific papers submitted, a scale that signals real pull, not just conference traffic.

That matters because PHYSOR is not a general nuclear expo. It is where reactor physicists, code developers and designers argue over the methods that move concepts closer to deployment: Monte Carlo methods, multi-physics simulations, advanced reactor design, nuclear data, fuel-cycle physics, safety analysis and artificial intelligence in nuclear engineering. The call for papers goes even further, with sessions on core analysis methods, light-water reactor design, verification and validation, transient analysis, deterministic transport, criticality safety, safeguards, fuel management, SMRs, fusion neutronics and non-electric applications of nuclear energy.

The conference theme, “The reactor physics challenge for the nuclear answer to decarbonisation,” fits the moment. PHYSOR’s author instructions say a special issue of Nuclear Science and Engineering is foreseen for extended papers, which gives the work a route from conference hall to peer-reviewed record. For anyone tracking where advanced reactor programs gain technical credibility, that pipeline matters as much as the keynote stage.

Turin’s turn as host also says something about the city itself. The PHYSOR 2026 site frames Turin as a leading hub for scientific and technological innovation with a long nuclear research and engineering tradition, while Politecnico di Torino describes itself as one of Italy’s most prestigious public institutions in engineering and research. With newcleo as a named anchor, the conference gives the city a chance to pull students, vendors, researchers and potential backers into the same orbit and make the case that Turin can be more than a venue.

The timing adds another layer. ANS lists PHYSOR 2026 in Turin, Italy, and says the series began in 1990, after recent editions in Pittsburgh in 2022 and San Francisco in 2024. Early-bird registration closed on March 8, standard registration runs through April 17, and on-site registration is available during the conference itself. The schedule includes a welcome reception on Sunday, April 19, a poster-session cocktail on Tuesday, April 21, and a banquet on Wednesday, April 22, the kind of rooms where technical talks often turn into recruitment leads, collaboration plans and the next round of advanced reactor work.