WELCOMEto the Department of Nuclear
Engineering
Dr. Pavel Tsvetkov
Honors Program Coordinator
and Associate Professor
Marna Stepan
Undergraduate Program
Coordinator
Nuclear engineering application areas
Electricity Water Security & Health
(Energy) (Vital Supplies) (Support)
Overview Preparation Experience Career Path
Innovative changes made in power
Safer More economic More advanced
Overview Preparation Experience Career Path
Modern uses of nuclear energy, radioactive
and radiation tolerant materials…
• Power
• Propulsion
• Materials
• Defense applications
• Food and Medical Supply Sterilization
• Industrial Radiography
• Research
• Medical X rays
• Nuclear Medicine
Overview Preparation Experience Career Path
Who are we?
• Largest nuclear engineering
department in U.S.
– 330+ undergraduate
students
– 150+ graduate students
• Nationally ranked programs (public institutions)
– Undergraduate, ranked 2nd
– Graduate, ranked 2nd
• Only department in U.S. with 2 nuclear reactors on campus
• Strong, exceptional facilities
Overview Preparation Experience Career Path
Zero Power teaching reactor
1 MW TRIGA research reactor
Full-scope nuclear power plantsimulator laboratory
Experience
• Robust academic program
• Early professional engagement through
professional organizations
– (ANS, ASME, WIN, INMM, …)
• Research
• Internship and co-op programs
• International study opportunities
– (Europe, China, Japan, India, …)
• Mentoring by faculty
– (2 individual advisors for each student, mentor groups
led by faculty research groups)
Overview Preparation Experience Career Path
Computational Methods DevelopmentSetting the standard for multidisciplinary research
• Multiphysics coupling with application to reactors and high-energy density physics• Transport discretization and solution schemes, parallelization• Shock hydrodynamics methods• Adaptive-mesh transport and diffusion• Uncertainty quantification applied to transport and nuclear reliability
Research Themes
Activities
Accomplishments
Faculty
Ryan McClarren
Jim Morel
Jean Ragusa
Marvin Adams
Adaptive Mesh Refinement Multiphysics
Novel Numerical Techniques• Radiation Transport (neutrons, photons, and charged particles)• Multiphysics Applications e.g., neutronics/thermal hydraulics; radiative transfer
• Demonstrated an exponentially-convergent Monte Carlo algorithm for a continuum transport system
• Developed and implemented a massively-parallel long-characteristic transport method
• Pioneered adaptive mesh refinement techniques for transport solvers
• Engineered a tightly coupled multiphysics software platform
• Devised robust and accurate spherical harmonics methods for time-dependent transport
FAC
ULT
Y/R
ESEA
RC
H
Health & Medical Physics, Radiation Biology
Research Themes
Activities
Accomplishments
Faculty
Leslie Braby
John Ford
GamalAkabani
John Poston
• Diagnostic radiology physics• Radiation detection• Radiation therapy & radiobiology• Proton and heavy ion therapy• Nuclear nanotechnologies• Effects of cosmic rays on electronics• High-energy, heavy-ion microdosimetry• Nuclear oncology & internal dosimetry• Image reconstruction methods
• Implementation of high-energy charged particle transport via FLUKA and PHITS Monte Carlo codes
• Tested miniaturized dosimeter for use in space suite during EVA
• Completed detector development for Space Station dosimeter
• Irradiated one cell nucleus in a living organism and found chromosome damage in many other cells
• Developed and tested new beta-emitting injectable brachytherapy sources for prostate cancer
• Monte Carlo transport on GPUs• Updated controls on microbeam
FAC
ULT
Y/R
ESEA
RC
H
Nuclear Materials & Fuel Cycles
• Radiation tolerant cladding materials• Advanced fuel fabrication methods• Advanced radiation detector• Advanced neutron generator• Nuclear waste behavior, monitoring, and processing• Aerosol research• Multi-scale modeling of materials degradation under extreme conditions
Research Themes
Activities
AccomplishmentsFaculty
Sean McDeavitt(Nuclear SceinceCenter Director)
Kenneth Peddicord
Lin Shao
Largest single university ion irradiation lab in US!
• Developing fabrication methods and evaluating the performance of novel nuclear fuel forms
• Alloys: U-Zr and U-Mo• Ceramic: UO2-BeO composite• Dispersion: Metal matrix alloys and barrier coating methods
• Characterized the metallurgy of U-Zr and U-Mo alloy fuels• Developed swelling resistant metallic and ceramic materials• Developed multi-scale modeling codes to understand damage evolution caused by fission fragments• Developed bendable neutron detection sheets
FAC
ULT
Y/R
ESEA
RC
H
Nuclear Power Engineering
Research Themes Activities
Accomplishments
Faculty
Yassin Hassan(Department Head)
Pavel Tsvetkov
Karen Vierow
Experimental validation of modern simulations is key to quantifying uncertainties!
• Published results on gas/liquid flooding in large diameter tubes• Published results on modeling condensation heat transfer• Published integrated system evaluation results for HTRs• Developing evaluation capabilities for HTR’s (NRC)• Integrated code system for advanced systems (SNL)• First-of-a-kind 3-dim fuel management and instrumentation
Design, development and evaluations in response to critical national needs in power engineering.
• Nuclear reactor safety• Nuclear reactor and system analysis and optimization• Validation and uncertainty of CFD codes• Sub-channel analysis of advanced fuel designs• HTR Thermal hydraulics and reactor physics• Small modular reactors• Integration of PRA and best estimate codes• Loading optimization for current and advanced reactors• Flow visualization in complex reactor geometries (PIV)• Data uncertainty validation and uncertainties• Advanced reactor instrumentation• 3-dim study of two-phase flows• Core hot-spot prediction• Studies in response to critical industry needs
FAC
ULT
Y/R
ESEA
RC
H
Nuclear Security & Nonproliferation
• Proliferation Risk Analysis• Safeguards Systems & Instrument Development• Combating Nuclear Terrorism• Nuclear Forensics and Attribution• Arms Control• Ensuring the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy
Research Themes
Activities
Members
Sunil Chirayath
(Interim NSSPI Director)
David Boyle
Craig Marianno
Paul Nelson
Accomplishments
• First university to mount and record radiation data from a crane used in port operations
• Developed SINRD detector with LANL for testing by IAEA
• Developed the SHIELD framework to interdict HEU at borders
• Developed PRAETOR tool and latency method for proliferation risk analysis
• GNEII program cited by White House as the 5th most important US science and technology activity in the Middle East
• Methodology for determining which states will go nuclear
• Int’l. research and education: India, Russa, Switzerland, UAE, England
FAC
ULT
Y/R
ESEA
RC
H
Overview Preparation Experience Career Path
Employment