The degree is a non-thesis professional master's degree consisting of 27 credits of course work plus 3 credits of research/paper writing. Twelve of those credits must be in nuclear engineering courses, with at least 18 credits completed at the 500 level. No thesis is required for the MEng in NE degree. Instead, you must take 3 credits of NUC E 596 Professional Topics in Nuclear Engineering, which represents formal recognition that you have completed a paper about an engineering subject. It must be approved by your adviser, a faculty reader, and the program chair.
Course List - Master of Engineering in Nuclear Engineering
| Title | Abbreviation | Description | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nuclear and Radiochemistry | NUC E 405 | Theory of radioactive decay processes, nuclear properties and structure, nuclear reactions, interactions of radiation with matter, biological effects of radiation. Prerequisite: CHEM 452 or PHYS 237 or NUC E 301 |
3 credits |
| Introduction to Statistical Thermodynamics | NUC E 406 | Statistical description of systems composed of large numbers of particles in the context of classical and quantum mechanics; basic concepts of probability theory and thermodynamics as they relate to statistical mechanics. Prerequisite: M E 300 or M E 201 or M E 202 or CH E 303; MATH 230 or MATH 231 |
3 credits |
| Nuclear Materials | NUC E 409 | Nuclear reactor materials: relationship between changes in material properties and microstructural evolution of nuclear cladding and fuel under irradiation. Prerequisite: PHYS 214 |
3 credits |
| Radiological Safety | NUC E 420 | Ionizing radiation, biological effects, radiation measurement, dose computational techniques, local and federal regulations, exposure control. Prerequisite: NUC E 301 or NUC E 405 |
3 credits |
| Radioactive Waste Control | NUC E 428 | Nature, sources, and control of radioactive wastes; theory and practice of disposal processes. Prerequisite: NUC E 301 or NUC E 405 |
3 credits |
| Design Principles of Reactor Systems | NUC E 430 | Nuclear power cycles; heat removal problems; kinetic behavior of nuclear systems; material and structural design problems. Prerequisite: M E 410; NUC E 301 or NUC E 401 |
3 credits |
| Power Plant Simulation | NUC E 470 | Basic knowledge necessary for intelligent simulation and interpretation of simulations of transients in nuclear power plants. Prerequisite: M E 320, MATH 251, NUC E 302 |
3 credits |
| Radiation and Measurement Detection Lab | NUC E 497 | Laboratory experience in radiation detection and measurement. This course is required for students who do not have a baccalaureate degree in nuclear engineering and have not fulfilled an equivalent course requirement. Students who do not have an undergraduate degree in nuclear engineering should consult with the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering to determine if they need to complete this course. |
1 credit |
| Reactor Engineering | NUC E 501 | Thermal hydraulic fundamentals applied to power reactors, thermal analysis of fuel elements and two-phase heat transfer in heated channels. Prerequisite: NUC E 430 |
3 credits |
| Reactor Core Thermal–Hydraulics | NUC E 502 | In-depth analysis of the reactor core thermal hydraulics; computational methods and practical applications. Prerequisite: NUC E 430 |
3 credits |
| Nuclear Reactor Kinetics and Dynamics | NUC E 511 | Analytical kinetics and dynamics modeling for reactivity-induced transients; reactor accident kinetics methods for simple and complex geometries; experimental methods. Prerequisite: NUC E 301; NUC E 302 |
3 credits |
| Nuclear Fuel Management | NUC E 512 | Nuclear fuel inventory determination and economic value through the fuel cycle. Emphasis on calculational techniques in reactor, optimization, and design. Prerequisite: NUC E 302 |
3 credits |
| Neutron Transport Theory | NUC E 521 | Derivation of Boltzmann equation for neutron transport; techniques of approximate and exact solution for the monoenergetic and spectrum regenerating cases. Prerequisite: NUC E 403 or PHYS 406 |
3 credits |
| Environmental Degradation of Materials in Nuclear Power Plants | NUC E/MATSE 523 | Degradation of materials performance when exposed to the combination of high temperature, neutron irradiation, and aggressive electrochemistry found in nuclear reactors. Prerequisite: NUC E 409 |
3 credits |
| Monte Carlo Methods | NUC E 525 | Fundamentals of the probability theory and statistics, analog and non-analog Monte Carlo methods and their applications, random processes, and numbers. Prerequisite: NUC E 403 or PHYS 406 |
3 credits |
| Individual Studies – Professional Topics in Nuclear Engineering | NUC E 596 | Creative projects, including nonthesis research, which are supervised on an individual basis and which fall outside the scope of formal courses. |
3 credits |
| Advanced Engineering Economy | IE 402 | Concepts and techniques of analyses useful in evaluating engineering projects under deterministic and uncertain conditions. Prerequisite: I E 302, I E 322, I E 405 |
3 credits |
| Heat Transfer | M E 410 | Thermal energy transfer mechanisms: conduction (steady, transient), convection (internal, external), radiation; lumped parameter method; heat exchangers; introduction to numerical methods. Prerequisite: AERSP 308, AERSP 311, C E 360 or M E 320; CMPSC 200 or CMPSC 202; MATH 220 or NUC E 309; MATH 251 |
3 credits |
| Finite Elements in Engineering | M E 461 | Computer modeling and fundamental analysis of solid, fluid, and heat flow problems using existing computer codes. Prerequisite: E MCH 213, E MCH 210H or E MCH 210; CMPSC 200, CMPSC 201 or CMPSC 202 |
3 credits |
| Heat Transfer—Convection | M E 513 | Laminar and turbulent flow heat transfer in natural and forced convection systems. |
3 credits |
| Foundations of Fluid Mechanics II | M E 522 |
Second semester of core sequence in fluid mechanics; continuation of boundry layers, stability, transition, turbulence, turbulent boundry layers, turbulence models. Prequisite: M E 421 or M E 521 |
3 credits |
| Numerical Solutions Applied to Heat Transfer and Fluid Mechanics Problems | M E 523 | Application of finite difference methods to the study of potential and viscous flows and conduction and convection heat transfer | 3 credits |
| Simulation of Mechanical Systems | M E 581 |
Introduces computational fundamentals, including digital logic; programming language, basic numerical analysis and data processing, as applied to mechanical simulation techniques. Prequisite: M E 480 |
3 credits |
Course Schedule
See course start and end periods and semesters offered on the Penn State World Campus student resources website.