From 25 to 29 October 2026, the 15th International Conference on Radiation Shielding (ICRS-15) was held in Jeju, Korea. At the conference, FDS Consortium launched a new release of its nuclear design software TopMC worldwide, presenting its research and applications of artificial intelligence in nuclear design. During the conference, FDS Consortium gave several talks, including “Progress in AI-Based Intelligent Nuclear Design with TopMC”, and on the opening day hosted a dedicated TopMC forum offering technical exchange and training for users from China and abroad. Several international collaborations were also initiated.
Founded in 1958 and held every four to five years, the International Conference on Radiation Shielding is one of the longest-standing and most influential international conferences in the field. Its topics cover radiation transport calculation, shielding design and radiation protection in nuclear energy and nuclear technology applications. This edition was held jointly with the Topical Meeting of the Radiation Protection and Shielding Division (RPSD) of the American Nuclear Society under the theme “Radiation Shielding in the Age of AI”, and brought together more than 500 scientists and engineers from around the world.
A re-architected TopMC with AI built in
TopMC (formerly SuperMC) is a large integrated software system for neutronics calculation, nuclear design and safety assessment developed independently by FDS Consortium. It simulates the transport of neutrons and related radiation with the Monte Carlo method and covers the full chain of calculations, including nuclide burnup, material activation and transmutation, radiation shielding and dose assessment. The new release has been completely re-architected and integrates artificial intelligence, delivering intelligent modelling, intelligent analysis and one-click intelligent nuclear design and safety assessment.
Proven in major projects worldwide
TopMC has performed nuclear design and safety assessment calculations for more than 40 major projects in China and abroad, including the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and Hualong One, and has been selected as an ITER benchmark code. Related results have received the State Natural Science Award of China, the American Nuclear Society Outstanding Achievement Award and the European Fusion Innovation Award, among others. The software is used by more than 1,000 nuclear institutions in over 90 countries and regions, covering fission, fusion and hybrid reactors as well as nuclear technology applications such as nuclear detection, particle accelerators, radiotherapy, nuclear well logging and irradiation processing.
Part of the FDS Cloud software family
TopMC is the flagship product of FDS Cloud, the intelligent nuclear science and technology software family developed by FDS Consortium. FDS Cloud spans three categories of software — physics and engineering calculation, interactive design and optimisation, and integrated multi-process simulation — and deeply combines large models and AI agents with specialised nuclear application software.
Under the guidance of Professor Yican Wu, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician of the International Academy of Nuclear Energy and founder of FDS Consortium, the team has been developing nuclear software for more than 40 years. In 2010 the team was the first in the world to propose the concept of Nuclear Informatics, promoting the convergence of new-generation information technologies — big data, artificial intelligence, mobile internet, cloud computing and the Internet of Things — with nuclear science and technology, and has continued to research cross-disciplinary applications of AI in nuclear technology. The new TopMC release is FDS Consortium’s latest step, guided by Nuclear Informatics, in moving “AI + Nuclear” from software assistance to intelligent empowerment.