Class Website

Catalog Description

• Issues in Nuclear Science and Engineering. Two hours of lecture per week. Introduction to technical, social, institutional, and ethical issues in nuclear engineering; nuclear reactions and radiation, radiation protection and control, nuclear energy production and utilization, nuclear fuel cycle, reactor safety, controlled fusion, nuclear waste, medical, and other applications of radiation, nuclear nonproliferation and arms control and engineering ethics.

Course Prerequisite

• None

Prerequisite knowledge and/or skills

• The course provides a general interest introduction to issues in nuclear science and engineering and does not require prerequisite knowledge or skills:

Textbook(s) and/or other required material

• Nuclear Energy 5^th Edn., R.L. Murray, Pergamon Press (2001).

Course objectives and outcomes

Course Objectives: It is the instructor's intention to...

• Introduce students to the fundamental science and technology that ground nuclear engineering.
• Illustrate through specific examples the concepts of professional ethics, safety and environmental impact, and social implications of technology.
• Provide opportunities for students to meet and learn from faculty and engineers from the national laboratories and industry, who will relate personal experiences in the practice of engineering.
• Introduce students to the major topical areas where nuclear engineers work, including fission and fusion energy systems, waste management, and applications of nuclear processes including bionuclear engineering.

Course Outcomes: Students must be able to...

• Understand the basic elements of nuclear structure, nuclear processes and the interaction of radiation with matter.
• Identify and discuss the major topical areas covered by nuclear engineering.
• Understand the social, environmental, safety and professional dimensions encompassed by nuclear engineering.

Topics covered

• Introduction to nuclear forces, energy, and matter; atoms; light; nuclear structure; isotopes; radioactive decay; nuclear processes and interaction of radiation with matter.
• Engineering and ethics; professional responsibility; ethical and social implications of technology.
• Energy production and utilization: comparisons of energy sources, global energy flows; environmental impacts, pollution and global warming; economic evaluation and externalities; proliferation.
• Biological effects of radiation; sources of radiation, biological pathways and dispersion in the environment; dosimetry units and measurement; radiation protection and control; ALARA; shielding and safety.
• Reactor theory: nuclear fission and chain reacting systems; criticality.
• Nuclear power engineering; energy transport and conversion in reactor systems, advanced reactor systems.
• Controlled fusion: nuclear fusion reactions; fusion reactor concepts, magnetic and inertial confinement; plasma physics; tritium handling; timetable for commercial systems.
• Medical applications of radiation: Monte Carlo particle transport simulation for radiation therapy, ethics and nuclear medical research.
• Other applications of radiation: industrial radiography, neutron activation analysis, instrument sterilization, dating.

Class/laboratory schedule

• This is primarily a lecture course, meeting two times a week for 50-minute lectures.

Contribution of course to meeting the professional component

• This course contributes to the students' knowledge of engineering topics.
• This course provides introductions to the science and technology that ground nuclear engineering, and to the broad array of activities encompassed by the discipline. Lectures are presented by leading researchers including department faculty, as well as by representatives from industry and the national laboratories. The course both provides an introduction to nuclear engineering important to NE students, and provides insights to students outside NE about the breadth of technological activity that involves nuclear processes.

Relationship of course to undergraduate degree program objectives

• This course serves students both in and outside the department. The information below describes how the course contributes to the undergraduate program objectives.
• This course contributes to the NE program objectives by providing both an introduction to the technical dimensions of nuclear engineering, and to the broader professional, social, and ethical considerations encompassed by engineering activity. The course provides specific discussion of professional ethics, environmental issues, risk assessment and safety, and social and institutional dimensions including nonproliferation.

Assessment of student progress toward course objectives

• Weekly (nearly) problem sets: 30%
• Midterm Exams 30% (each)
• Final Exam: 40%