Paolo Picca

Visiting Assistant Professor
ppicca@email.arizona.edu

Paolo Picca is a Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Arizona since 2013. After graduating in Nuclear Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino (Italy), he earned a PhD with a thesis on the application of linear Boltzmann equation to neutron and photon transport. In 2007, Paolo was a co-investigator at the University of Arizona for a research contract funded by Raytheon Co. He is a chartered engineer (both in Italy and in the UK) and has extensive experience in large engineering projects, both in the industry and as a regulator. Paolo published more than 20 peer-reviewed journal papers and more than 30 conference papers. He is also author of OECD/NEA reports and chaired IAEA working groups on nuclear safety. His research interests are mainly in linear transport theory, nuclear reactor dynamics, remote sensing for Earth systems characterization and space exploration, application of artificial intelligence to inverse problems. Other areas of expertise include instrumentation and control, probabilistic safety assessments, high integrity software reliability.

Degrees

  • PhD, Nuclear Engineering, Politecnico di Torino (2009)
  • MSc, Nuclear Engineering, Politecnico di Torino (2005)
  • BSc, Energy Engineering, Politecnico di Torino (2003)

 

 

Publications

  • Schiassi, E., De Florio, M., Ganapol, B.D., Picca, P. and Furfaro, R., 2021. Physics-informed neural networks for the point kinetics equations for nuclear reactor dynamics. Annals of Nuclear Energy, p. 108833. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2021.108833
  • Picca, P., & Furfaro, R. (2019). A quasi-static approach for the solution of steady-state linear transport problems. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 133, 805-815. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2019.07.015
  • Picca, P., & Furfaro, R. (2018). Reactivity determination using the hybrid transport point kinetics and the area method. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 114, 191-197. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anucene.2017.12.019
  • Picca, P., & Furfaro, R. (2017). Application of the Transport-Driven Diffusion Approach for Criticality Calculations. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Transport, 46(4), 258-282. DOI: 10.1080/23324309.2017.1352515
  • Picca, P., & Furfaro, R. (2017). Application of Extreme Learning Machines to inverse neutron kinetics. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 100, 1-8. DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2016.08.031
  • Picca, P., Furfaro, R., & Ganapol, B. D. (2016). Application of non-linear extrapolations for the convergence acceleration of source iteration. Journal of Computational and Theoretical Transport, 45(5), 351-367. DOI: 10.1080/23324309.2016.1167742
  • Picca, P., & Furfaro, R. (2015). Closed-form solution of the first-order Transport-Driven Diffusion approximation. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 76, 431-438. DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2014.10.016
  • Picca, P., & Furfaro, R. (2014). A hybrid method for the solution of linear Boltzmann equation. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 72, 214-236. DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2014.05.014
  • Furfaro, R., Previti, A., Picca, P., Kargel, J. S., & Bishop, M. P. (2014). Radiative transfer modeling in the cryosphere. In Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (pp. 53-73). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-79818-7_3
  • Picca, P., & Furfaro, R. (2014). Hybrid-transport point kinetics for initially-critical multiplying systems. Progress in Nuclear Energy, 76, 232-243. DOI: 10.1016/j.pnucene.2014.05.013
  • Picca, P., Furfaro, R., & Ganapol, B. D. (2013). A highly accurate technique for the solution of the non-linear point kinetics equations. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 58, 43-53. DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2013.03.004
  • Picca, P., & Furfaro, R. (2013). Analytical discrete ordinate method for radiative transfer in dense vegetation canopies. Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer, 118, 60-69. DOI: 10.1016/j.jqsrt.2012.12.007
  • Picca, P., & Furfaro, R. (2012). Neutron inverse kinetics via Gaussian Processes. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 47, 146-154. DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2012.03.023
  • Picca, P., Furfaro, R., & Ganapol, B. D. (2012). On radiative transfer in dense vegetation canopies. Transport Theory and Statistical Physics, 41(3-4), 223-244. DOI: 10.1080/00411450.2012.671218
  • Picca, P., Furfaro, R., & Ganapol, B. D. (2012). An efficient multiproblem strategy for accurate solutions of linear particle transport problems in spherical geometry. Nuclear science and engineering, 170(2), 103-124. DOI: 10.13182/NSE11-05
  • Picca, P., Furfaro, R., & Ganapol, B. D. (2012). Derivation of a physically based hybrid technique for the solution of source-driven time-dependent linear Boltzmann equations. Transport Theory and Statistical Physics, 41(1-2), 23-39. DOI: 10.1080/00411450.2012.671219
  • Picca, P., Furfaro, R., & Ganapol, B. D. (2011). A Hybrid Transport Point-Kinetic method for simulating source transients in subcritical systems. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 38(12), 2680-2688. DOI: 10.1016/j.anucene.2011.08.005
  • Previti, A., Furfaro, R., Picca, P., Ganapol, B. D., & Mostacci, D. (2011). Solving radiative transfer problems in highly heterogeneous media via domain decomposition and convergence acceleration techniques. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 69(8), 1146-1150. DOI: 10.1016/j.apradiso.2010.11.016
  • Picca, P., Furfaro, R., Kargel, J., & Ganapol, B. D. (2008, April). Forward and inverse models for photon transport in soil-ice mixtures and their application to the problem of retrieving optical properties of planetary surfaces. In Space Exploration Technologies (Vol. 6960, p. 69600O). International Society for Optics and Photonics. DOI: 10.1117/12.777479