Nuclear Engineering

This module considers a range of material in the wider business development area. Students are encouraged to think with creativity, entrepreneurial flair and innovation. Practical sessions allow students to demonstrate their progress on a weekly basis through idea generation, peer presentations, elevator pitches and formal presentations. The module is accompanied by a number of external industrial speakers who have been successful in their own business endeavours and are keen to pass on that knowledge.

Students will become familiar with a rich mixture of experiential learning opportunities, that develop a wide range of transferable skills in the context of engineering entrepreneurship. The module will focus on the development and use of business plans and marketing strategies. Students will prepare a business plan, discuss team dynamics and the requirements for entrepreneurial activity. Additionally, the appropriate terminology to use when developing business projects will be explored. Students will discuss relevant aspects of company finance, uncertainty in business ventures and techniques for analysing markets. They will also examine frameworks for marketing and structuring a business plan and will develop the ability to analyse potential markets and sources of funding.

Introducing nuclear, oil, gas and chemical plant decommissioning, this module addresses the decommissioning market and related organisations. The module provides an insight into the £63bn UK nuclear decommissioning market, and follows the typical decommissioning lifecycle process from initial characterisation through to the final survey. Furthermore, the module encourages students to consider the role of decommissioning in the wider energy and transport industries. Students will gain an awareness of environmental cleanup issues as well as safe disposal, recycling and reuse of materials. Students will develop knowledge of the legislative constraints imposed on industry, specifically in the context of an environmental agenda, and will gain experience in balancing aspirations relating to the technical, economic and legal aspects of design justification.

Among the topics explored on this module, students will look at facility characterisation along with the planning and costing of decommissioning projects, as well as considering radiation issues and health and safety. Additionally, the module will cover waste disposal law, in addition to land remediation, WEEE directive, producer responsibility consumer vs. citizen and Environmental credential vs. functionality perceptions. The module also aims to enhance students’ understanding of ethical implications of technology development.

Students will learn to design and plan a decommissioning campaign, and will be able

Whilst alternating topic focus, this module explores RF engineering and electromagnetic processes in general. Students will gain knowledge of RF engineering, the decibel scale, and will explore complex number review. Additionally, the module will cover AC circuit analysis, and will provide complex representation of waves and transmission lines, along with seminars in RF transmission of data and basic RF receiver architectures.

The electromagnetic portion of the module will cover Electrostatics, including electric charge, electric field, electric flux density and electrostatic potential. Students will develop knowledge of inverse square law of force, dielectric polarisation and permittivity, as well as capacitance, energy storage, parasitic capacitance and electric screening.

Students will develop the level of understanding necessary to describe the concepts of potential, charge, field and capacitance, and will learn to apply Ampere, Faraday and Coulomb law. Students will also gain an understanding of ferromagnetic materials, and will develop the necessary skillset to calculate the magnitude and direction of the electric field strength, as well as discussing Gauss theorem and the relationship of electric flux to electric charge. Finally, students will be able to carry out noise calculations for RF systems, calculate component values and transmission line dimensions to match impedances, and will gain knowledge in the application of Smith charts to analyse an RF circuit.

This module introduces students to numerate aspects of engineering. It is designed to provide students with a broad and flexible array of mathematical methods for the analysis of data and signals. It also intends to illustrate the essential role of computing in the application of these skills. Students will use calculus for the analysis of trigonometric, non-linear, polynomial and exponential functions, and will sketch multivariable functions with a relation to engineering on three-dimensional Cartesian axes.

Additionally, students will evaluate the significance of differential equations in the description of an engineering system and will apply methods such as Laplace, integration and substitution to find the solution of these equations. They will also develop the ability to analyse systems in both the time and frequency domain using Fourier and Laplace transformations. Students will learn to apply the spectrum of approximate methods that exist for finding the roots of equations, definite integrals and linear approximations.

The matrix representation of coefficients and their correspondence will be applied to arrays in software, including the use of manipulations such as the inverse matrix. Students will use the concept of least squares analysis in order to assess the consistency of data. Finally, they will develop the ability to use a software package such as Excel for multivariable analysis of a given function and to produce appropriate graphical outcomes.

Students will be introduced to a range of key concepts in engineering project management and will put some of these into practice by means of an interdisciplinary group project. This module aims to motivate students to produce and test a functional electro mechanical machine to meet a given specification for example, the development of a mobile robot which follows a line. Students will develop a range of skills including, the ability to describe a mechanical/electrical system at the block diagram level, identifying its power and signal flows and writing an overall performance or functional specification. They will also acquire the knowledge necessary to integrate the functional requirements with other needs such as maintainability, safety, manufacturability, environmental impact and regulatory compliance. The requirements for interface management including spatial, mass, environment, control, failure modes, and energy, will also be discussed.

Additionally, students will develop the skill set required to prepare an interface management plan for a complete project and interface specifications for the subsystems/components. They will discuss the project lifecycle including specification, design, manufacture, commissioning, maintenance, modification and disposal. Finally, students will apply the principles of validating the design of a complex system using analysis, sample testing, type testing, commissioning, system tests and acceptance.

This module is designed to enhance students’ understanding of system dynamics and feedback at the block diagram level, by providing tools for the analysis of linear single degree freedom systems. Students will gain the ability to use appropriate instrumentation for feedback and data-logging purposes. The module will enable students to interface devices such as memory, digital IO and analogue IO to a microprocessor or microcontroller. They will also discover how to access such devices from within a program using C and/or Assembler.

On successful completion of this module, students will be able to develop single degree freedom models for simple mechanical, electric and electromechanical systems. They will also be able to discuss the assumptions necessary to develop such linear models and have an awareness of nonlinear and chaotic systems. Additionally, students will develop the ability to analyse 1st and 2nd order models in both the time and frequency domain, including vibrations and asymptotic stability. They will write down the transfer function of a system from its differential equation and understand the significance of the poles/zeros.

Further skills available on the module include the ability to manipulate block diagrams of open and closed-loop systems and the design of proportional, integral, derivative, velocity and multi-term controllers. Finally, students will construct and use Bode diagrams, and will develop the knowledge required to analyse the function and physical operation of a range of common types of transducer, e.g. for the measurement of strain, force, temperature and acceleration.

The first section of this module explores nuclear engineering, and will focus on its historical aspects, such as Roentgen, the Curies, Otto Hahn, the Fermi pile, Heisenberg, Manhattan project, enrichment issues, Klaus Fuchs and the UK programme, along with the influence of accidents. Additionally, students will be given an introduction to radioactivity fundamentals and neutrons, specifically their properties and processes. Students will also discover reaction modes, cross-section, 1/v and related resonances designs, such as Captain Rickover, Pile 1 and 2 and Magnox among others, as well as examining shielding physics.

The second portion of the module will explore nuclear chemistry, with particular attention paid to electronic structure, for example orbitals, electron transitions and valency. Additionally, this section will look at bonding and structure: ionic and covalent bonding, dative covalent bonding, physical bonds, metal ligand interactions, oxidation and reduction. Students will learn about uranium and its compounds: actinide chemistry, oxides and fluorides of uranium.

Students will gain the level of understanding necessary to discuss fundamental nuclear engineering concepts and define keywords, as well as historical aspects that have influenced nuclear engineering. They will also be able to discuss fundamentals of radioactivity and describe the fission process, along with the concepts of criticality and control. They module will also enable students to compare a range of reactor designs with the generic nuclear reactor, and describe how uranium mined in the ground fits into generic chemistry concepts. Finally, students will be able to describe how different compounds of uranium enable it to be extracted, refined and separated.

This module will enhance students’ knowledge of heat transfer calculations and aims to outline where these are essential to engineering design. Students will develop an understanding of electric power systems, including the characteristics of the main types of electric machine. In addition, they will gain the ability to estimate steady-state heat transfer rates and will be able to size simple parallel and contra flow heat exchangers. They will also develop the level of understanding required to estimate temperature distributions within 1-D or rotationally symmetric systems in which there is steady heat flow, as well as correctly sizing cooling fins.

Students will set up appropriate boundary conditions for 3-D heat conduction problems that are to be solved numerically using a software package and will estimate the time it takes for a thermal system to reach a steady state. Finally, they will be able to perform calculations to predict the performance of a single-phase induction motor and will be able to analyse the starting, speed and torque control methods used on induction motors.

The aim of this module is to introduce students to the foundations of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), including finite difference and finite volume methods, numerical solution of partial differential equations and von Neumann stability analysis. The advanced use of CFD for solving complex fluid dynamics issues will be explored and is crucial to several engineering branches including turbomachinery, hydraulic, aeronautical, renewable energy, environmental and chemical engineering.

Knowledge of the fundamental theoretical elements of CFD provided in this module enables students to correctly set up and solve problems in the aforementioned areas using state of the art commercial CFD software. The lab based component of the module aims to provide students with advanced expertise using key components of the CFD software. These include grid generation systems, CFD solvers (including choice of key physical modelling and numerical control parameters), and solution post-processors (including flow visualisation systems).

This module addresses the physical behaviours of a wide range of engineering materials by considering underpinning scientific concepts affecting resistance to failure by yield, fast fracture, fatigue, creep and corrosion/environmental degradation. Through the examination of case study examples, the module will inspect the connection between materials selection, processing and environmental/service conditions. The influence these factors have upon the economic and safe use of materials, in a range of common engineering applications, will also be explored.

Students will develop the ability to describe the limitations of yield based failure criteria when determining the resistance to failure by crack initiation, growth and fast-fracture. They will apply Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics (LEFM) concepts to the modelling of engineering components. They will gain the level of knowledge necessary to explain how fatigue testing is carried out in the laboratory, this is done whilst applying the results from such testing, to the modelling of engineering components.

The module will enhance students’ ability to describe the underpinning mechanisms that cause creep in materials. They will be able to use creep models and creep data to carry out basic calculations to predict the performance of materials under elevated temperature conditions.

Additionally, students will gain the skill set required to explain the underlying factors that affect the environmental degradation of materials, in particular those applicable to industrially significant metallic alloys. Students will reinforce their understanding of why the structural integrity of materials in engineering design, is a function of the structure-property-environment relationship. Finally, they will be able to exercise informed materials selection in engineering design.

The module involves students completing an individual project. They are responsible for the research, management and the design/practical element of the project. They will be assigned a project title and project supervisor who will guide and advise throughout the project. The module aims to give students an in-depth knowledge of a specific, specialist area of their subject. They will learn professional software, design or experimental skills consistent with subject.

Students can choose a specific area of development from a vast range of possible outcomes, and they will work towards their personal goal. Students can gain knowledge and understanding of scientific principles and methodology necessary to underpin their education in their engineering discipline, to enable appreciation of its scientific and engineering context, and to support their understanding of historical, current, and future developments and technologies.

Alternatively, students may choose to develop the ability to apply quantitative methods and computer software relevant to their engineering discipline, in order to solve engineering problems. There will also be an opportunity for students to learn and apply quantitative methods and computer software relevant to their engineering discipline, in order to solve engineering problems. Students can also develop an understanding of customer and user needs and the importance of considerations such as aesthetics, along with workshop and laboratory skills.

This module provides an introduction to integrated circuit engineering and integrated circuits, including key methods for their design, fabrication and testing. In this regard, the module will examine the principles of very large scale integrated circuit engineering and the digital design process. Among a vast range of topics, this module will address CMOS circuit engineering, and will focus on MOSFET short channel effects, switch model, digital design metrics and the design of logic elements.

Additionally, students will become familiar with arithmetic building blocks, memory elements classification, array structure and timing issues.

Students will develop the ability to analyse simple performance metrics and will derive circuits to implement simple functions, and will learn how to use an industrial tool to model, analyse and construct digital circuits.

This module introduces nuclear instrumentation applications. It offers students a review of radiation detection modalities, data analysis and interpretation, and addresses the detection and measurement of energy, count level, energy spectra and dose. Students will develop knowledge of safety issues associated with nuclear instrumentation, along with an ability to develop an awareness of the common nuclear instrumentation systems they might encounter in industry, medicine and research. Additionally, students are presented the opportunity to design an entire radiation detection system dependent on the scenario.

Over the course of the module, students will develop an understanding of the principal radiation detection modalities in use throughout the world, and will be able to set up some of these systems. The module will also reinforce students’ understanding of the statistical issues associated with the use of these instrumentation systems and the interpretation of their data. They will gain an awareness of the compromise between energy resolution and detection efficiency, as well as considering the safety issues associated with the use of nuclear instrumentation. In addition, students will gain the necessary knowledge to design basic shielding by using both mathematical methods as well as simulation type methods such as Monte Carlo, and will learn how radiation relates to actual dose received.

Introducing the effect of radiation on human tissue, this module addresses external beam radiotherapy, with a focus on history, methods, devices and techniques. The module will also cover internal radiotherapeutic methods and will look at sources and techniques, in addition to radiology and related imaging methods. Students will discover the concept of radiobiological effects, and to review three main aspects of nuclear medicine: external beam radiotherapy, internal radiotherapy and radiology.

Students will develop an understanding of the difference between ‘radiotherapy’ and ‘radiology’, and will learn to identify an appropriate method for the treatment of a given medical condition, i.e. the association of proton therapy viz. cancer of the cornea, iodine treatment for the thyroid cancer. Additionally, the module will enhance students’ ability to explain the principal parts of key nuclear medical systems such as LINACs, source deployment facilities, PET scanners among others.

Students will also learn to identify specific isotopes and explain how their properties relate to their common uses such as Tc99m for use in PET, etc.

Introducing the concept of systems and systems design, this module addresses structured methods of functional decomposition, and provides insight into functional modelling and creative thinking tools.

Students will develop knowledge in the importance of a structured approach to system and product design, including the skills for eliciting, capturing and analysing customer requirements. The module will also introduce functional modelling methods for the analysis and synthesis of a set of requirements.

In addition, students will be able to demonstrate a theoretical understanding of a systemic approach to systems design. They will develop skills for eliciting, capturing and analysing customer requirements, and will gain a theoretical understanding of system design and how it relates to systems engineering and its principles through divergent and convergent thinking processes.

For MEng Mechanical Engineering students, this module is core for those choosing to follow either the Design Pathway or the Energy & Resources Pathway.

Students are provided with the opportunity to experience live projects over a significant period of time, working in multidisciplinary groups and in a team project environment. They will bring specialist knowledge from their own degree disciplines for the benefit of developing a multidisciplinary solution to the project being undertaken.

The group projects are typically developed in partnership with industry collaborators or, are based on research activity within the School of Engineering. This ensures that they are at the cutting edge of research and/or have an industrial focus.

Students will develop the ability to critically analyse and evaluate a project brief, providing input based on their individual degree specialisation such as nuclear, mechanical or mechatronics. Students will implement a project management system for documenting and tracking, the system will require the agreement of time-constrained deliverables that can be changed over time. They will also create a fully justified design brief for a product, process or service that is underpinned by specialist knowledge, and takes account of a critical engineering analysis of the topic under consideration.

Additionally, students will produce a working prototype, product or process that takes account of and incorporates subject specific knowledge and is consistent with the commercial drivers of industrial stakeholders. They will also demonstrate the ability to collect, store, analyse and recall large sets of data or results that can be interpreted by all members of the multidisciplinary group. Finally, an understanding of issues such as health and safety, risk, ethics, environment, National/European/International standards and other regulatory frameworks that are subject specific will be developed and must be adhered to.

This module aims to familiarise students with the issues involved in starting up and running a company in a technological area, and to introduce the concept of entrepreneur as a transformational leader. Work placements will allow students to develop an appreciation of engineering problems within an industrial context.

Students will participate in a company-based problem solving or a design project, and will improve their understanding of a particular technological problem depending on the nature of their company placement. Additionally, students will gain a theoretical basis of operations management, strategy and strategic development, accounting, customer value and marketing, as well as managing human resources. The module will enhance students’ ability to carry out basic financial analysis for example, to forecast the company's future performance, and will provide them with a theoretical basis and practical experience of problem solving and teamwork. Finally, students will gain a theoretical basis and some experience of the Human Resources aspects of business.

For MEng Mechanical Engineering students, this module is core for those choosing to follow either the Design Pathway, the Energy & Resources Pathway or the Materials and Manufacturing Pathway.

This module introduces students to the design and application of intelligent control systems, with a focus on modern algorithmic, computer aided design methods. Starting from the well known, proportional integral algorithm, essential concepts such as digital and optimal control are introduced using straight forward algebra and block diagrams. The module addresses the needs of students across the engineering discipline who would like to advance their knowledge of automatic control and optimisation, with practical worked examples from robotics, industrial process control and environmental systems, among other areas.

Students will gain an understanding of various hierarchical architectures of intelligent control and will be able to analyse and design discrete time models and digital control systems. Additionally, they will gain the necessary knowledge to design optimal model based control systems and identify mathematical models from engineering data. Students will also learn how to design and evaluate system performance for practical applications.

This module will introduce the fundamental concepts underpinning nuclear fusion and the engineering challenges associated with its implementation as a power source. It will explore the fundamental fusion reactions and discuss the different engineering approaches to extracting useful energy from them, with a focus on magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) and inertial confinement fusion (ICF). You will be provided with a basic grounding in electromagnetism and superconductivity to enable discussion of these confinement concepts and associated technologies, including lasers, magnets and diagnostics. Aspects of this course also aim to explore the tritium fuel cycle and materials issues unique to fusion, i.e. radiation damage, and how these are being developed with a focus on maintaining overall public acceptability. By the end of the course, you will be able to identify and critically evaluate the different approaches to exploiting fusion for electricity generation, identify and describe major systems in Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF) and Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) reactor, as well as justify the selection of materials for key reactor systems and components.

The module is taught in collaboration with the world-leading Culham Centre for Fusion Energy

This module introduces students to Master's level study. Students are provided with the initial skills and guidance to get started on their projects (individual for MSc and in teams for MEng) and they will be introduced to the Department's system for ordering components. MEng students will receive their team brief prior to meeting with their supervisor, during which they will gain a good understanding of the full scope of the project and will discuss approaches to the topic set. They will also organise themselves into suitable roles within their team, and will be able to use the Department's ordering system.

Students will be introduced to various aspects of team working such as methods, problems and pitfalls. They will also discover MATLAB and Simulink revision sessions, and will participate in information searching.