SDG Detail

Nuclear Systems Design Project

Undergraduate course

Project description

Group design project involving integration of nuclear physics, particle transport, control, heat transfer, safety, instrumentation, materials, environmental impact, and economic optimization. Provides opportunity to synthesize knowledge acquired in nuclear and non-nuclear subjects and apply this knowledge to practical problems of current interest in nuclear applications design. Past projects have included using a fusion reactor for transmutation of nuclear waste, design and implementation of an experiment to predict and measure pebble flow in a pebble bed reactor, and development of a mission plan for a manned Mars mission including the conceptual design of a nuclear powered space propulsion system and power plant for the Mars surface, a lunar/Martian nuclear power station and the use of nuclear plants to extract oil from tar sands.