ENGINEERING TRIPOS PART IIB - 2012/2013

Module 4M16 - Nuclear Power Engineering

AIMS

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.

LECTURE SYLLABUS

Health Physics (2L, Mr R.L. Skelton)

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

Reactor Physics (3L, Dr G.T. Parks)

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

Reactor Design & Operation (4L, Dr G.T. Parks)

• Simple reactor design;
• Heat transfer and temperature distributions in commercial reactors;
• Time dependent aspects of reactor operations; delayed neutrons and Xenon poisoning;
• In-core fuel cycles.

Fuel Processing (3L, Mr R.L. Skelton)

• 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 (1 hour laboratory time).

Demonstration of the detection and shielding of fast and thermal neutrons using a 37 GBq Americium-Beryllium source (1 hour laboratory time).

OBJECTIVES

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.

REFERENCES

Please see the Booklist for Group M Courses for references for this module.

Last updated: June 2012