There are eleven areas of research which are closely connected with the pebble bed reactor:

• General Overview
• Fuel Performance
• Benchmarking of the MIT High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor TRISO-Coated Particle Fuel Performance Model, Michael Stawicki, Thesis
• Silver Transport in CVD Silicon Carbide, Heather MacLean, Thesis
• An Integrated Performance Model for High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactor Coated Particle Fuel, Jing Wang, Thesis
• Core Neutronics
• MCNP4B Modeling of Pebble Bed Reactors, Julian Lebenhaft, Thesis
• Plant Design
• Balance of Plant Design
• Plant Simulation
• Design, Analysis and Optimization of the Power Conversion System for the Modular Pebble Bed Reactor System, Chunyun Wang, Thesis
• Safety
• LOCA and Air Ingress Accident Analysis of a Pebble Bed Reactor, Tieliang Zhai, Thesis
• Non-Proliferation
• Waste
• Economics
• Regulation
• Modularity