This inaugural conference, formed in association with Journal of Nuclear Materials, will serve as an umbrella for international meetings on nuclear materials science for fission reactors, including the nuclear fuel cycle. It is the intention that NuMat2010 will become an international key scientific forum in the field, during which complementary meetings will benefit from a common organisation structure, while keeping their own identity.

NuMat2010 will combine six international meetings in three parallel sessions, covering the topics of nuclear fuels, structural materials, and molten salts:

• Thermodynamics and Thermophysics of Nuclear Fuels (TNF-2) which addresses the thermal properties and phase relations of current and future generation reactor fuels.
• Materials Modelling and Simulation of Nuclear Fuels (MMSNF-9) which has become a main forum for exchange of multi-scale modelling in this field.
• Radiation Stability of Complex Microstructures (RSCM-2) which focuses on radiation damage process and properties modification in ceramics, metals and composite materials.
• Molten Salts for Nuclear Applications (MSNA) which will deal with actinides and lanthanides molten salts for reprocessing and fuel.
• Structural and Functional Materials for Fission Reactors (SFMFR), focussing not only on zirconium-based materials but also on advanced steels, ceramics and composites.
• Structural Materials Modeling and Simulation (SMMS) which will complement the MMSNF meeting.

The organisers encourage scientists involved in experimental studies as well as theoretical studies to participate, and particularly in studies aimed at the basic understanding of the properties of nuclear materials and the impact of radiation.

To promote the active participation of young researchers (under 35 years old) to the NuMat2010 conference, the organisation will be awarding prizes for the best young scientist oral and poster presentations. Orginality of the work and quality of the presentation are the key criteria for these awards.