Nuclear engineering plays a key role in solving future energy challenges and advancing radiation technology. Learn how nuclear power, fusion, and radiation engineering contribute.
Nuclear engineering is divided into three main fields. Nuclear systems engineering, fusion and plasma engineering, and radiation engineering. My personal interest is in the field of nuclear systems engineering and nuclear materials. Currently, I am working as an intern in the Nuclear Materials Laboratory at Seoul National University since last summer. In the future, I plan to enter a graduate school related to nuclear materials and do research on materials issues needed to solve future energy problems. Now, I will introduce the three fields of the Department of Nuclear Engineering.
The first is nuclear systems engineering. In fact, it is not an exaggeration to say that the department of nuclear engineering was created to develop engineering skills related to nuclear power plants. Here’s how a nuclear power plant works When uranium is bombarded with neutrons, the nucleus of the uranium splits, releasing energy through Einstein’s principle of energy equivalence. This energy is used to boil water and turn a turbine with steam to generate electricity. The field of nuclear systems is again subdivided. There is a field for designing nuclear power plants, a field that studies fluids flowing through piping, a field that analyzes and studies expected accidents for the safety of power plants, a field that studies the materials used in nuclear power plants and how to process used nuclear fuel in power plants, and a field of nuclear reactor physics that studies how to calculate and simulate the number and movement of neutrons produced by burning uranium, the raw material for nuclear power, with computers.
Then there’s fusion and plasma engineering. The Department of Nuclear Engineering was initially created as the Department of ‘Nuclear’ Engineering to conduct research related to nuclear power plants. However, as new power plants were needed due to problems such as the disposal of spent nuclear fuel and the occurrence of catastrophic accidents in nuclear power plants, the new goal became to build hydrogen-fueled power plants that do not emit radioactivity. Therefore, the department was later renamed to the Department of ‘Nuclear’ Engineering. Currently, Seoul National University is the only university in Korea that conducts research on nuclear fusion power generation. Let me briefly explain the principle of a nuclear fusion power plant. When you raise the temperature to make hydrogen molecules with high energy, they become plasma. The plasma state is a state like the three states of matter: solid, liquid, and gas. When the temperature of a substance is very high, the atoms are separated into protons and electrons and mixed together, this is called the plasma state, which is why it is sometimes called the fourth state of matter. When two hydrogen nuclei in the plasma state collide to make helium, there is a mass difference between the two hydrogen nuclei and the helium nuclei, and energy is released corresponding to the mass difference. This energy can be harnessed to boil water and turn a turbine to generate electricity, as in nuclear power. We haven’t built a fusion power plant yet, but we are in the process of building one. There is a lot of detail in this field. In order to build a fusion power plant, there is a field that builds and experiments with nuclear fusion reactors, or tokamaks, where nuclear fusion takes place, a field that simulates the plasma inside the tokamak, a field that tries to establish the theory of the plasma used to generate nuclear fusion power, and a field that uses the plasma industrially.
Nuclear fusion and plasma engineering is a very exciting and challenging field. Many researchers believe that nuclear fusion is one of the ways to fundamentally solve our energy problems. Nuclear fusion can provide unlimited energy, and unlike fossil fuels currently in use, it produces very little radioactive waste. However, there are still many technical challenges to commercializing this technology. For example, technologies are needed to keep the plasma stable and efficiently convert it into energy. Researchers from around the world are working together to address these challenges, including the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), an international collaborative research project. ITER is the world’s largest research project to realize nuclear fusion energy, and many countries, including Korea, are involved.
Finally, there is the field of radiation engineering, which studies the physical causes of how atomic nuclei emit radiation and how radiation can be applied in real life, such as medical treatment equipment and food sterilization. Radiation is widely used to treat cancer, and radiation therapy has become an effective treatment method for many cancer patients. Radiation also plays an important role in various industries, such as preservation and sterilization of food and non-destructive testing of materials. Research in radiation engineering contributes to the development of technologies for the safe use of radiation and advances in radiation protection technology. The safe use of radiation is crucial to human health and environmental protection, and radiation engineers are continuously researching to achieve this.
Nuclear engineering involves a variety of studies to study the above fields, so it is necessary to have a general knowledge of the subjects studied in electrical engineering, materials engineering, mechanical engineering, etc. Nuclear engineering is also called a multidisciplinary science because nuclear power plants can only be built by using the latest theories and technologies from all engineering fields. In the first year, you will study physics, chemistry, statistics, mathematics, computer programming, etc. just like other engineering students. In your second year, you’ll take courses that prepare you to specialize. Electromagnetism, Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, Modern Physics, and Industrial Mathematics. By this time, you can get an overview of all the fields of nuclear engineering and decide which field you want to study in the future. In the third year, you will learn how to express the behavior of neutrons and the behavior of plasmas mathematically, which are unique to nuclear engineering. You will also choose to study subjects such as fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, and physical chemistry. By the end of the third year, you have a pretty good idea of what you want to do, and in the fourth year, you can choose courses in your favorite field. In my case, I am taking specialized courses in materials science and engineering and mechanical engineering to do research in the field of nuclear materials.
After graduating from Nuclear Engineering, like most engineering students, you can either get a job or go to graduate school, and after graduation, you can work in a research institute or become a professor. Companies involved in nuclear energy include Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power, Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction, Samsung Heavy Industries & Construction, and Hyundai Engineering. Research institutes include the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, the National Nuclear Fusion Research Institute, and KEPCO Nuclear Fuel. Schools with nuclear-related engineering departments include Seoul National University, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Hanyang University, Kyung Hee University, Chosun University, and Jeju University. Nowadays, due to the shortage of nuclear-related manpower, nuclear-related majors are being established at other schools such as POSTECH and Dongguk University.
Nuclear engineering is a discipline that offers many challenges and opportunities. It can contribute to solving future energy problems and developing safer and more efficient methods of energy production. In addition, various applied technologies using radiation play an important role in various fields such as medicine, industry, and the environment. By majoring in nuclear engineering, we can contribute to the development of technologies for a better future, which in turn can improve the quality of life for humanity.
