NUC-3650 Reactor Fundamentals
This course is a study of fundamentals associated with neutron properties and behavior in various reactor plant types and introduces the containment and emergency cooling concepts of reactor safety. Course content includes mass-energy relationships of atomic nuclei, nuclide stability, radioactive decay, neutron production, life-cycle, and interactions with matter, and the fission chain reaction in the reactor core. Students will also study the effects of reactivity coefficients, control rod worth, fission product poisons, and fuel burnup during critical and shutdown reactor plant operations.
Advisory: It is strongly recommended that you do not take any of the Nuclear Engineering Technology and Radiation Protection area of study courses unless your math skills, up to and including derivatives and integrals, are current. Students are responsible for making sure that they have the necessary knowledge.