NE 472:  Nuclear System Design

Course Description and Goals:

First order design and analysis of a nuclear system, interface with nonnuclear aspects of system design including system reliability and economics, class project. Prereq: 470.

Text: None. Handout material provided by instructor.

Course Objectives:

The main objective of this capstone design course is to provide a real-world design experience to nuclear engineering seniors.  A secondary objective is to apply and integrate the knowledge gained from the undergraduate program to conduct a real-world nuclear design project.  Another objective is to gain any new knowledge that may be needed to address the design project. Presentations are made to the students by invited speakers from industry who are experts in the area of the design problem.  Frequently, the industry experts collaborate with the instructor in defining the design problem.  The most important factor to consider in defining the design problem is that it must be a real-world problem, which needs to be solved now.  In other words, it must be a "hot topic" so that student enthusiasm is hopefully automatic.  State-of-the-art design and analysis tools are also made available to students for their use in the solution of the design problem. The design project definition is presented to the students at the first class meeting.  The class meets once per week (150 minutes per class) during the semester.  Students are expected to work effectively in design teams and to report the results of their work in oral presentations and in a formal design report.  Invited speakers are usually scheduled only during the first half of the semester and usually only one speaker per week during the first half of each class meeting.  This permits the second half of each class meeting to be used by the students in their respective design groups to work on the design project.  The first 10-15 minutes of each class, even when a speaker is scheduled, is "show and tell" time when anyone who has design project information to share with others can indeed share such information.  The last couple of weeks of the semester are devoted to student presentations.  Each student is required to present a 15-20 minute seminar to the entire class on his/her contribution to the design project.  The design reports are due two weeks before the end of the semester.  This permits time for the instructor to critique each report and time for students to respond to the critique before the reports are due again at the end of the semester.

Topics Covered:

Class Schedule:

The class meets once each week for 150 minutes (with breaks).

Contribution to Professional Component/Learning Outcomes:

1. Demonstrate the ability to apply knowledge gained in undergraduate courses to a real-world design problem. Also, obtain any new knowledge needed to address the design problem.
2. Demonstrate the ability to design a nuclear system to meet desired needs.
3. Learn how to function in teams.
4. Learn how to identify and solve engineering problems by sub-dividing the overall problem into smaller, more easily solvable problems.
5. Demonstrate ethical responsibility and practice by being a significant contributor to the design group effort (i.e., not loafing).
6. Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively in writing and in oral presentations.
7. Appreciate the impact of engineering solutions in a global/societal context.
8. Appreciate the need for lifelong learning.
9. Gain knowledge of contemporary issues.
10. Learn to use modern engineering tools

Relationship of Course Learning Outcomes to ABET Outcomes:

ABET Outcome 1: New basic knowledge is always gained in NE 472 because the undergraduate program is never completely sufficient for real-world design problems.

ABET Outcome 2 is not usually addressed by NE 472. However, it has been addressed at least once (early 1980s), when the students built a prototype of their design of a Liquid Level Detector for PWRs.

ABET Outcome 3: NE 472 is totally dedicated to the design of a nuclear system to meet a real-world need.

ABET Outcome 4: NE 472 students work in teams. For example, a reactor core design problem requires one (or more) students take responsibility for neutronics, one (or more) students take responsibility for thermalhydraulics, one for economics, etc.

ABET Outcome 5: The overall design problem frequently requires sub-division into smaller problems which must be identified, formulated, and solved.

ABET Outcome 6: One aspect of professional ethics is to always put forth your best individual effort for the benefit of the team. In other words, it is unethical to loaf and let others do your work.

ABET Outcome 7: Students will improve their communications skills (i.e., both written and oral communications) via feedback from the instructor.

ABET Outcome 8: Some design problems address global/societal issues such as severe reactor accidents and plutonium disposition.

ABET Outcome 9: Design students recognize quite soon that they do not have enough knowledge to address the assigned problem. Hence, the need for more and continued learning is apparent.

ABET Outcome 10: The design problem always addresses a contemporary issue such as food irradiation and passive reactor safety.

ABET Outcome 11: The design problem always requires modern engineering tools such as the widely used code systems MCNP, SCALE, RELAP, or RETRAN.

Revised by: H.L. Dodds, April 15, 2005

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