Handbook

This course provides students with an introduction to the key elements of nuclear engineering. It is aimed at giving students the basic background knowledge, understanding and vocabulary to demonstrate what differentiates nuclear engineering from other engineering disciplines, and to understand later courses on the Nuclear Engineering MEngSci stream.

The course will introduce a variety of themes including nuclear fission, reactor physics and engineering, the historical context of nuclear engineering, the impact of radiation on matter, fuel fabrication and the fuel cycle, radioactive wastes and storage methods, reactor accidents, and nuclear policy.

The following topics are covered in this class

• Radioactivity and decay.
• Radiation interactions and dose.
• Nuclear reaction, fission and fusion theory.
• Fission reactors, four factor formula, moderation.
• Nuclear power, TMI, Chernobyl.
• Nuclear fuel cycle.

The topics are broken into three basic divisions for the term as given below:

I. Nuclear Fundamentals 

II. Nuclear Radiation 

III. Nuclear Power 

This is a fully online course taught by academics from Arizona State University as part of the PLuS Alliance. Among other things this means that a different learning management system may be used and the ASU mark and grade will be converted to a UNSW equivalent. You can find more details about this here.