Winner Kooy Prize 2025: ir. Tom Wien

Winner Kooy Prize 2025: LTZ3 (TD) Ir. T.H. (Tom) Wien

with his research Nuclear Propulsion for Naval Vessels - An investigation into the dynamic behaviour of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with a supercritical carbon dioxide power conversion cycle.

On 16 April, during the Kooy Symposium 2025, the Kooy Prize of EUR 2,000 was awarded to Ir. Tom Wien. He graduated from Technical University Delft, Faculty of Energy Flow and ProcessTechnology. As part of his thesis, he conducted research at DAMEN on nuclear propulsion for (naval) ships. In his research, he integrated several complex topics such as nuclear reactors, thermodynamic cycles and energy conversions to then match with the dynamic load of a (naval) ship.

Tom Wien drew inspiration for his graduation project from the Maritime Manufacturing Industry Sector Agenda. This defined five frontrunner projects, the fifth track of which is called 'Nuclear Propulsion of Ships'. This track explores the advantages and disadvantages of sustainably sailing ships with permanent energy supply.

Research

The title of his graduation project with which he graduated Cum Laude from TU-Delft concerns a beautiful sentence: "Nuclear Propulsion for Naval Vessels - An investigation into the dynamic behaviour of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with a supercritical carbon dioxide power conversion cycle."

Kooy Prize

Tom Wien was supervised throughout his graduation research by Prof Dr Ir R. Pecnik and Dr Ir J.W.R. Peeters (TU Delft) and Ir G.J. Meijn (DAMEN Naval). The nomination teaches: " We got to know Tom as a very driven individual, who managed to combine his graduation work very well with his duties in the navy. Not only does he have an eye for detail, he is also creative."

And this creativity/originality in particular appealed to the judges. After all, Tom Wien shows that at first it seems that properties of nuclear reactor, together with the underlying components do not match the load. But through a practical solution invented by Tom Wien (another criterion the jury looks at) in the supercritical CO2 turbine, this solution can still compete with gas turbines and diesel engines.

Jury

The jury consisted of Messrs KLTZ F.G. Marx, MSc. EMSD (jury chairman and board member KIVI DV, NLDA/FMW), Dr L. Koene (NLDA/FMW), Ing. L.F. Galle (Ministry of Defence, Materiel Directorate), Prof.dr.ir. P.H.A.J.M. van Gelder (TU Delft), Prof.dr.ir. J.M.C. Mol (TU Delft), Prof.dr.F. Phillipson (TNO, Maastricht University), Prof.dr.ir. F.E. van Vliet (TNO, University of Twente) and Prof.dr.ir. P.J. Oonincx (NLDA/FMW).

Honourable mention

As this was not only a clear winner, but also a clear runner-up, the jury, in consultation with KIVI, Defence and Security Department, decided to award an honourable mention. As part of his graduation project at Eindhoven University of Technology, Jos Wigchert will receive an honourable mention with a matching sum of 500 Euro for his Master's research: "Detection of Aerial Spoofing Attacks to LEO Satellite Systems via Deep Learning Solutions". Jos Wigchert was supervised by Dr Savio Sciancalepore from the Master's in Computer Science and Engineering - Information Security Technology (IST) Track.

Kooy Prize

Since the year 2000, the Royal Institute of Engineers (KIVI), Defence and Security Division has awarded an annual prize for 'outstanding graduation work' at a university or college. The award is given for the best graduation thesis in a technology relevant to Defence and Security. The award ceremony takes place during the annual Kooy symposium.

The freely disposable cash prize of €2,000 is made available by the Kooy Fund. This fund is named after the former professor of missile technology at the Royal Military Academy in Breda. Prof Johan Kooy was a nationally and internationally renowned aerospace scholar in the mid-twentieth century. In this quality, he also provided teaching and research at TU-Delft for a series of years.

After Prof Kooy's death, the fund named after him was established in 1984. The main objective of this fund is "Promotion of science and technology in the Netherlands, following or resulting from defence-oriented functions and tasks, such as ballistics."

Uitreiking Kooy prijs 2025. Prijswinnaar LTZ3 ir. Tom Wien was tijdens de uitreiking op zee, waardoor de ceremonie plaats vond via een videoverbinding.