(Course description last updated for academic year 2014-15).
Prerequisites

This course is module 4M16 (formerly 4A1) in the Engineering Tripos. It is open to third or fourth year Engineering students and students doing some MPhil courses, for instance the MPhil in Technology Policy, as well as Part III Physics students. There are no hard prerequisites in terms of background knowledge, but familiarity with basic nuclear physics and heat transfer is certainly helpful, and students who cannot solve second-order ordinary and partial linear differential equations will not enjoy parts of the course very much.

Learning Outcomes and Assessment

This module aims to give the student an introduction to and appreciation of the UK nuclear industry, particularly the technology used in the production of electricity in nuclear power stations, the preparation and subsequent treatment of the fuel and its by-products, and the detection of ionising radiation and the protection of workers within the nuclear industry and the general public from it.

Synopsis

On completion of the module students should:

  • Appreciate the nature of neutron-nucleus interactions;
  • Be able to classify ionising radiation by physical nature and health hazard;
  • Be able to conduct safely a simple experiment involving radiation;
  • Understand the principles of radiation detection and shielding;
  • Be able to explain the principles of operation of UK nuclear reactors;
  • Be able to apply elementary models of neutron behaviour in reactors;
  • Know how to compute simple power distributions in reactors;
  • Know how to compute simple temperature distributions in reactors and appreciate their consequences;
  • Appreciate the significance of delayed neutrons and Xenon-135 to the control and operation of reactors;
  • Appreciate the advantages and disadvantages of on-load and off-load refuelling;
  • Be able to perform simple calculations to predict the refuelling requirements of reactors;
  • Be able to explain the operation of enrichment plant;
  • Appreciate the problems of radioactive waste management;
  • Appreciate the range of activities of the UK nuclear industry.

The course consists of 12 lectures, two within-lecture laboratory demonstrations and two examples classes.

LECTURE SYLLABUS

Health Physics: Principles of nuclear reactions; Radioactivity and the effects of ionising radiation; Introduction to health physics and shielding.

Reactor Physics: The fission chain process; Interactions of neutrons with matter; Models for neutron distributions in space and energy.

Reactor Design and Operation: Simple reactor design; Past, present and future reactor designs and concepts; Heat transfer and temperature distributions in commercial reactors; Time-dependent aspects of reactor operations; delayed neutrons and Xenon poisoning; In-core and out-of-core fuel cycles.

Fuel Processing: Enrichment and reprocessing; The containment and disposal of radioactive wastes.

LABORATORY DEMONSTRATIONS

Demonstration of the use of Geiger-Muller and scintillation counters for detecting ionising radiation.

Demonstration of the detection and shielding of fast and thermal neutrons using a 37 GBq Americium-Beryllium source.

BOOKS

Elements of Nuclear Power, Bennet D J and Thomson J R (Longman 1989)

Nuclear Reactor Engineering Volumes 1 and 2, Glasstone S and Sesonske A (Chapman and Hall 1991)

Principles of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Harms A A (RSP/Wiley 1987)

Introduction to Radiation Protection, Martin A and Harbison S A (Chapman and Hall 1996)

Nuclear Chemical Engineering, Benedict M, Pigford T H and Levi H W (McGraw-Hill 1981)

Course section:

Other Information

Staff
Dr Geoff ParksLecturer