What is nuclear engineering?

Nuclear engineering applies nuclear and radiation processes in various sectors. It emphasizes the release, control, and utilization of nuclear energy , as well as the production and application of radiation and radioactive materials across research, industry, medicine, and national security. Nuclear engineers engage in research, development, design, manufacturing, and the installation of nuclear system components. This field also involves safety analysis, project coordination, and quality control. Nuclear engineering requires a multifaceted approach, incorporating physics , mathematics, heat transfer, fluid flow, and material behavior under radiation.

What are atoms and how is nuclear energy produced from them?

Atoms are the basic building blocks of matter and combine to form molecules. Each atom has a central nucleus containing positively charged protons and neutral neutrons, surrounded by negatively charged electrons. Nuclear energy is derived from the atomic nucleus based on the principle that the total mass after a nuclear reaction is less than before the reaction. This difference in mass is converted into energy, according to Einstein's equation (E = mc^2). There are two main nuclear processes that produce energy: * Nuclear fission A heavy nucleus, such as uranium, splits into lighter nuclei and particles, releasing energy. This process is used in nuclear reactors to generate electricity through controlled chain reactions. * Nuclear fusion Light nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing energy. This is how stars generate energy. Scientists are still working on creating controlled, commercially viable nuclear fusion on Earth.

What is a nuclear reactor and how does it work?

A nuclear reactor initiates and controls a self-sustaining series of nuclear fissions . During this process, a heavy atomic nucleus splits into smaller fragments, releasing neutrons, subatomic particles, and photons. The emitted neutrons can cause additional fissions, creating a chain reaction that releases a significant amount of energy, which forms the basis of nuclear power systems. Nuclear reactors maintain a controlled, nearly constant chain reaction, unlike atomic bombs where the reaction increases rapidly. Control rods are used to manage the neutron population, keeping the reactor in a critical state for steady-state operation. Coolants, most commonly water, remove the heat generated during fission to maintain a balanced system and transfer the heat energy to the power-generating plant. These reactors have structural components such as a reactor vessel that holds the system together. Light-water reactors (LWRs), including pressurized-water reactors (PWR) and boiling-water reactors (BWR), are the most common type.

What is nuclear fission and why is it important in nuclear engineering?

Nuclear fission is the splitting of a heavy atomic nucleus, like uranium or plutonium, into two smaller fragments of roughly equal mass, a process that releases a large amount of energy. This process may occur spontaneously or be induced by the excitation of the nucleus with particles. In nuclear engineering, controlled nuclear fission chain reactions within nuclear reactors are crucial for generating power. Nuclear reactors are employed to produce steam or hot gases that can provide heat directly or drive turbines to generate electricity. The discovery of nuclear fission opened the "Atomic Age," leading to sociological, political, economic, and scientific advances.

How is nuclear energy used to generate electricity?

Nuclear power plants generate electricity using heat from nuclear fission, where the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller fragments. This process produces heat, which warms a coolant, often water, though other fluids such as heavy water, air, carbon dioxide, helium or liquid sodium can also be used. The heated coolant produces steam, which drives turbines connected to electric generators, thus producing electricity. A controlled chain reaction sustains the process, ensuring a constant energy level, and preventing explosions. The reactor's structural components, especially the reactor vessel, are vital for maintaining appropriate temperature and pressure for efficient power generation.

What are some safety measures nuclear engineers take to protect people and the environment?

Nuclear engineers prioritize safety through preventive and mitigating measures to avoid radioactivity release. Multiple fission product barriers, such as fuel cladding, reactor vessels, and shielding, are implemented. Containment structures, like cylindrical buildings with spherical domes, are designed to prevent radioactivity from escaping into the environment, able to withstand pressure, debris, and external forces. Strict design and operating rules, including independent, redundant, and diverse safety systems, are in place. Regular inspections and qualification tests for personnel ensure proper construction and operation. Emergency responses are prepared by the nuclear industry and regulators, with agencies like the NRC and IAEA setting standards.

nuclear engineering

Images

Installation of the dome of a containment structure at the Taishan nuclear power plant, Guangdong province, southern China, 2012.

Shippingport Atomic Power Station, near Pittsburgh

nuclear engineering

Written by

Ira BornsteinAll

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

History

Top Questions

What is nuclear engineering?
Nuclear engineering applies nuclear and radiation processes in various sectors. It emphasizes the release, control, and utilization of nuclear energy, as well as the production and application of radiation and radioactive materials across research, industry, medicine, and national security. Nuclear engineers engage in research, development, design, manufacturing, and the installation of nuclear system components. This field also involves safety analysis, project coordination, and quality control. Nuclear engineering requires a multifaceted approach, incorporating physics, mathematics, heat transfer, fluid flow, and material behavior under radiation.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What are atoms and how is nuclear energy produced from them?
Atoms are the basic building blocks of matter and combine to form molecules. Each atom has a central nucleus containing positively charged protons and neutral neutrons, surrounded by negatively charged electrons.

Nuclear energy is derived from the atomic nucleus based on the principle that the total mass after a nuclear reaction is less than before the reaction. This difference in mass is converted into energy, according to Einstein's equation (E = mc^2).

There are two main nuclear processes that produce energy:
* Nuclear fission A heavy nucleus, such as uranium, splits into lighter nuclei and particles, releasing energy. This process is used in nuclear reactors to generate electricity through controlled chain reactions.
* Nuclear fusion Light nuclei combine to form a heavier nucleus, releasing energy. This is how stars generate energy. Scientists are still working on creating controlled, commercially viable nuclear fusion on Earth.
6 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What is a nuclear reactor and how does it work?
A nuclear reactor initiates and controls a self-sustaining series of nuclear fissions. During this process, a heavy atomic nucleus splits into smaller fragments, releasing neutrons, subatomic particles, and photons. The emitted neutrons can cause additional fissions, creating a chain reaction that releases a significant amount of energy, which forms the basis of nuclear power systems.

Nuclear reactors maintain a controlled, nearly constant chain reaction, unlike atomic bombs where the reaction increases rapidly. Control rods are used to manage the neutron population, keeping the reactor in a critical state for steady-state operation. Coolants, most commonly water, remove the heat generated during fission to maintain a balanced system and transfer the heat energy to the power-generating plant. These reactors have structural components such as a reactor vessel that holds the system together. Light-water reactors (LWRs), including pressurized-water reactors (PWR) and boiling-water reactors (BWR), are the most common type.
1 Britannica Source
1. nuclear reactor
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What is nuclear fission and why is it important in nuclear engineering?
Nuclear fission is the splitting of a heavy atomic nucleus, like uranium or plutonium, into two smaller fragments of roughly equal mass, a process that releases a large amount of energy. This process may occur spontaneously or be induced by the excitation of the nucleus with particles.

In nuclear engineering, controlled nuclear fission chain reactions within nuclear reactors are crucial for generating power. Nuclear reactors are employed to produce steam or hot gases that can provide heat directly or drive turbines to generate electricity. The discovery of nuclear fission opened the "Atomic Age," leading to sociological, political, economic, and scientific advances.
2 Britannica Sources
1. nuclear fission
2. nuclear reactor: Critical concentration and size
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How is nuclear energy used to generate electricity?
Nuclear power plants generate electricity using heat from nuclear fission, where the nucleus of an atom splits into smaller fragments. This process produces heat, which warms a coolant, often water, though other fluids such as heavy water, air, carbon dioxide, helium or liquid sodium can also be used. The heated coolant produces steam, which drives turbines connected to electric generators, thus producing electricity. A controlled chain reaction sustains the process, ensuring a constant energy level, and preventing explosions. The reactor's structural components, especially the reactor vessel, are vital for maintaining appropriate temperature and pressure for efficient power generation.
4 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What are some safety measures nuclear engineers take to protect people and the environment?
Nuclear engineers prioritize safety through preventive and mitigating measures to avoid radioactivity release. Multiple fission product barriers, such as fuel cladding, reactor vessels, and shielding, are implemented. Containment structures, like cylindrical buildings with spherical domes, are designed to prevent radioactivity from escaping into the environment, able to withstand pressure, debris, and external forces.

Strict design and operating rules, including independent, redundant, and diverse safety systems, are in place. Regular inspections and qualification tests for personnel ensure proper construction and operation. Emergency responses are prepared by the nuclear industry and regulators, with agencies like the NRC and IAEA setting standards.
2 Britannica Sources
1. nuclear reactor: Containment design principles
2. nuclear engineering: Radiation measurements
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

nuclear engineering, the field of engineering that deals with the science and application of nuclear and radiation processes. These processes include the release, control, and utilization of nuclear energy and the production and use of radiation and radioactive materials for applications in research, industry, medicine, and national security. Nuclear engineering is based on fundamental principles of physics and mathematics that describe nuclear interactions and the transport of neutrons and gamma rays. These phenomena in turn are dependent on heat transfer, fluid flow, chemical reactions, and behaviour of materials when subjected to radiation. Nuclear engineering is therefore inherently a multifaceted discipline, relying on several branches of physics, and, like the aerospace industry, it relies to a large extent on modeling and simulation for the design and analysis of complex systems that are too large and expensive to be tested.

History

Nuclear engineering was born in the 20th century with the announcement in 1939 of the discovery of nuclear fission by the German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann. It was almost immediately realized that a weapon of enormous explosive energy might be possible by employing fission, and during World War II the race to be the first to build this weapon led to the creation of the Manhattan Project in the United States. The seminal work of the Manhattan Project, led by Italian physicist Enrico Fermi, was the building of the first nuclear reactor in 1942 at the University of Chicago. Named Chicago Pile No. 1 (CP-1), this reactor demonstrated the scientific theory of a controlled nuclear chain reaction, and it was followed by the construction of reactors at Hanford, Washington, that were used to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons. The Hanford production reactors were complex systems that required the talents and efforts of a large number of traditional engineers from all disciplines, but the engineers were supplemented by physicists and mathematicians who understood the complex nuclear phenomena involved and could work with the engineers to design and analyze early reactor systems. These physicist-mathematician-engineers were the ancestors of today’s nuclear engineers.

The successful development of nuclear submarines by the U.S. Navy after the war was a key driver for the then unnamed discipline of nuclear engineering. The design and analysis of nuclear reactors, whether on land or in a submarine, requires an understanding of the complex nuclear phenomena going on within the reactors as well as a practical knowledge of how to go about designing and putting together the fuel assemblies, cooling systems, pressure vessels, control systems, and countless other systems needed for the reactor plant. A growing understanding of nuclear physics within the reactor and of radiation transport within and outside the reactor led to the birth of a new engineering discipline, nuclear engineering, that supplemented the traditional (and necessary) engineering disciplines needed to design, analyze, build, and operate a nuclear reactor plant.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, as the many potential peaceful uses of nuclear energy became evident, schools of reactor technology were established by Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee and by Argonne National Laboratory near Chicago. These schools were the forerunners of the first academic departments and degree programs established in the 1950s and ’60s by colleges and universities around the United States, including North Carolina State University, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of Michigan.

The successful application of nuclear reactors to naval propulsion led directly to the rapid development of commercial nuclear power plants in the 1960s and ’70s, and this development in turn increased the demand for graduates with training in nuclear engineering. Today there are more than 40 departments and programs offering courses in nuclear engineering and related fields in the United States and Canada, and more than 60 such programs have been established elsewhere in the world.

While the primary driver for the growth of nuclear engineering has been nuclear power, the discipline is much broader than that one application. Nuclear engineering also includes fields such as radiation measurement and imaging, nuclear fusion and plasma physics, nuclear materials, and medical and health physics. In order to represent this broader spectrum of activities, some nuclear engineering departments have expanded their titles to include “nuclear science,” “radiological sciences,” or “radiation sciences.”

Nuclear engineering functions

The functions carried out by nuclear engineers span a spectrum of activities, including basic research, applied research, development, fabrication and construction, operation, and product support and marketing. All of these functions apply to nuclear power and, to lesser degrees, to other branches of nuclear engineering, depending on the maturity of the field.

Explore Britannica Premium!

The trusted destination for professionals, college students, and lifelong learners.

Nuclear engineers perform these functions for various categories of employers:

Architectural engineering firms, for which they handle design, safety analysis, project coordination, construction supervision, quality assurance, quality control, and related matters.
Reactor vendors and other manufacturing organizations, for which they pursue research, development, design, manufacture, and installation of various components of nuclear systems.
Electric utility companies, for which they handle planning, construction supervision, reactor-safety analysis, in-core nuclear fuel management, power-reactor economic analysis, environmental-impact assessment, personnel training, plant management, operation-shift supervision, radiation protection, spent-fuel storage, and radioactive-waste management.
Hospital and medical centres, where they conduct applied research and also develop and carry out diagnostic and therapeutic radiation procedures on patients.
Regulatory agencies, for which they undertake licensing, rule making, safety research, risk analysis, on-site inspection, and research administration.
Defense programs, for which they are employed in naval propulsion and nuclear weapons programs.
Universities, where they teach prospective nuclear engineers and perform basic and applied nuclear engineering research.
National laboratories and industrial research laboratories, where they carry out basic and applied research and development on a variety of nuclear-related topics.

nuclear engineering

History

Thank you for signing up!

Nuclear engineering functions