Bachelors in Nuclear Engineering in USA

The Nuclear Engineering program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET.

Nuclear engineering is defined as the application of nuclear and radiation processes in technology. An important application is the generation of electricity using nuclear reactors. Another important application is in medicine, where radiation and radioisotopes are used to diagnose and treat illness. Nuclear engineering offers students an important opportunity to help meet the energy needs of our society and to contribute to the improvement of health through medical applications. Further, because the nuclear engineering curriculum is very rich in engineering physics, graduates are prepared to work in a number of technical activities outside the nuclear engineering field.

Nuclear energy, both from fission and fusion, offers a promising approach to meeting the nation's energy needs—an approach that may preserve jobs, raise the standard of living of Americans, and alleviate the depletion of natural resources including natural gas, petroleum, and coal. Even more important, nuclear energy offers the only practical, environmentally benign approach to generating electricity on a large scale because it releases no harmful SO2, NOX, CO2, or particulate matter into the atmosphere. Nuclear energy has played, and continues to play, an important role in space exploration. Nuclear engineering has enabled the use of isotopic power supplies in deep space probes like the Cassini mission, and may eventually be used to design fission or fusion-based systems for more demanding missions

Since the discovery of fission many years ago, electricity is being produced commercially in a several hundred billion-dollar industry. Applications of radioactive tracers have been made in medicine, science, and industry. Radiation from particle accelerators and materials made radioactive in nuclear reactors are used worldwide to treat cancer and other diseases, to provide power for satellite instrumentation, to preserve food, to sterilize medical supplies, to search for faults in welds and piping, and to polymerize chemicals. Low energy plasmas are used in the manufacture of microelectronics components and to improve the surface characteristics of materials. High energy plasmas offer the possibility of a new energy source using thermonuclear fusion.

Because the breadth and rate of change in this field requires that the nuclear engineer have a broad educational background, the curriculum consists of physics, math, materials science, electronics, thermodynamics, heat transfer, computers, courses in the humanities and social science areas, and numerous elective courses. Courses of a specific nuclear engineering content come primarily in the third and fourth years.

The curriculum prepares students for careers in the nuclear industry and government—with electric utility companies, in regulatory positions with the federal or state governments, or for major contractors on the design and testing of improved reactors for central station power generation or for propulsion of naval vessels.

The curriculum also prepares the graduate for work in many areas where a broad technical background is more important than specialization in a specific field. Thus, the graduate is also prepared to work in any area where a broad engineering background is helpful, such as management, technical sales, or law. The curriculum gives students excellent preparation for graduate study in the fission and fusion areas, medical and health physics, applied superconductivity, particle accelerator technology, and other areas of engineering science in addition to study in areas such as materials science, physics, mathematics, and medicine.

The nuclear engineering program is offered under the department of nuclear engineering and radiation science.

The nuclear engineering program has a primary mission to provide an outstanding and comprehensive undergraduate and graduate education to tomorrow's leaders in nuclear engineering. The department provides well-educated nuclear engineering professionals and leaders to Missouri and the nation, in the commercial nuclear industry, national laboratories, graduate schools, and the nation's defense and federal agencies. The objectives of the bachelor of science program are to provide each student with fundamental knowledge of nuclear engineering and related technologies, analytical and problem solving ability, ability for technical communications, professional ethics, leadership and interpersonal skills, capability to conduct research, and the ability to recognize the value of life-long learning.

The program is committed to a strong engineering program administered by highly motivated and active nuclear engineering faculty; it is the only B.S. nuclear engineering degree program accredited in the state of Missouri. The nuclear engineering program at Missouri S&T, one of the earliest ABET accredited undergraduate programs in the nation, interacts with professional societies, national laboratories, and the nuclear industry to promote continuing education, research opportunities, and public dissemination of information about issues and advances in the field.

Nuclear engineers develop and promote the utilization of energy released from nuclear fission, fusion, and the decay of radioisotopes. Currently, there are more than 100 nuclear power plants operating in the United States producing about 20 percent of our nation's electricity. These plants use nuclear fission to produce energy and are cooled by ordinary (light) water, hence the name, Light Water Reactors. This technology reduces the emission of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide significantly, thus contributing to a better environment. In addition, nuclear reactors are used for the propulsion of submarines and aircraft carriers.

In fusion power plants, under development, strong magnetic fields contain a plasma fuel of hydrogen isotopes, such as deuterium, at temperatures hotter than the sun. The deuterium extracted from one gallon of water could produce as much energy as burning several hundred gallons of gasoline.

Radioisotopes are used in industry and research, and in medicine for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. The medical use of radioisotopes and X-rays saves hundreds of thousands of lives every year throughout the world. Radioisotopes are also used in small power generators for space flights.

If you choose nuclear engineering, you could work in the areas of nuclear reactor design, plant licensing, plant operation, fuel management and development, radioactive waste disposal, health physics, instrumentation and control, fusion research, space nuclear power, and applications of radioisotopes in industry, medicine, and research. As a nuclear engineer, you might be employed by utilities, reactor vendors, architect-engineering firms, consulting firms, industrial research centers, national laboratories, government agencies or universities.

The nuclear engineering curriculum consists of three components: general education, mathematics and basic sciences, and engineering topics. The students apply the principles of physics, chemistry and mathematics to the study of engineering topics which include statics, mechanics of materials, electronic circuits and machines, thermodynamics, and metallurgy. The knowledge gained in these areas is applied to the understanding of nuclear engineering topics including reactor fluid mechanics and heat transfer, reactor physics, nuclear radiation measurements, radioactive waste management, reactor laboratory and operation, nuclear materials, and nuclear systems design (a capstone design course).

Engineering design is an integral part of a significant number of required courses in the nuclear engineering program. Design topics include but are not limited to reactor cooling systems, radiation protection, structural components, waste disposal and transportation systems, nuclear reactor cores and the design of experiments for radiation detection and measurement. While obtaining experience in these areas the students are prepared for designing a complete nuclear system such as a nuclear plant for electric power generation, space propulsion, desalination, district heating or radioisotope production for industrial, medical or research applications.

Nuclear, plasma, and radiological engineering encompasses a broad and diverse but complimentary set of engineering disciplines with a wide variety of applications. The first two years of the NPRE curriculum provides a strong foundation in sciences (physics, mathematics, and chemistry), in engineering (mechanics and thermodynamics), in computer use, and in nuclear energy systems.  Most of the technical core and concentration coursework takes place in the third and fourth years of the curriculum. Students choose from among three concentrations:  power, safety and the environment; plasma and fusion science and engineering; and radiological, medical and instrumentation applications. Each concentration requires students acquire a depth of understanding of the area but with flexibility to develop advanced technical expertise depending upon the student’s specific educational and professional interests. Students demonstrate proficiency in the engineering design process in a senior design capstone course.

The radiological, medical and instrumentation applications concentration encompasses the intersection of radiation technologies, medicine, and security. This area focuses on developing science and engineering techniques that utilize ionizing radiation for biomedical research and healthcare as well as nuclear safeguards and radiation detection for homeland security. Areas of scholarship and research in which students are involved include but are not limited to: biomedical imaging, radiation detection and measurement systems, emerging x-ray imaging techniques, image processing, instrumentation for emission tomography (PET and SPECT), spectroscopy, dosimetry, homeland security, nuclear safeguards, nonproliferation, radiation protection during radiation therapy, big data analytics for radiation sensor networks, health physics, advanced thermal neutron detectors, and isotope identification algorithms.  Students confer with their academic advisor on a chosen course set to ensure that a strong program is achieved. Students may select technical electives in the life sciences (chemistry, biology) to apply towards pre-med requirements. Technical electives are chosen from among NPRE courses and courses outside the department in the subfields of biomolecular and biomedical engineering. The program prepares graduates for positions in industry, research laboratories, federal and regulatory agencies, as well for medical programs and further graduate study.