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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 Science in Nuclear Engineering 

Courses
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

 

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