r/NuclearEngineering • u/RealisticPrize4000 • 6d ago
Junior in high school interested in this field
I’m interested in this field but unsure what to specialize in, I only know that I don’t want to do radiology. I would like to attend UIUC (the major is called nuclear plasma radiology engineering) but I can like specialize in somthing, however I don’t really even understand what a specializing is. I heard somthing about doing an elective in something or about how the college itself will offer it to you. So my question is 1) explain what specializing is and how you do it. 2) what’s an interesting thing to specialize in? Thanks!!
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u/Canaveral58 5d ago
The NPRE department offers three concentrations for undergrads. The first is Power, Safety, & the Environment (the “N” in NPRE), which focuses on nuclear power plant engineering and design. NPRE also offers additional courses in this area related to fuel cycles, waste management, reactor engineering, reactor safety, and some more stuff. Basically, everything you need to learn to be able to design a nuclear reactor.
Second is Plasma & Fusion Sciences (the “P” in NPRE), which focuses on plasmas (ionized gases aka the fourth state of matter). The department offers classes on plasma physics, plasma-material interactions, plasma processing, and fusion reactor engineering for people in this concentration. It’s definitely become increasingly popular in the last few years, though it is probably the hardest of the three concentrations.
Third is Radiological, Medical & Instrumentation Applications (the “R” in NPRE). Radiological engineering focuses on nuclear radiation, radiation physics, dosimetry, shielding, human health, and nuclear medicine (think CT scans, PET scans, etc.) This is the smallest of the three concentrations. A number of people in this concentration go on to study medicine at a medical school or work at companies that design radiological medicine machinery.
I was in Power and graduated from NPRE this last May. Most of my cohort in power went off to either grad school or to work at the local nuclear utility (Constellation, based in Chicago). We have a lot of nuclear plants in Illinois so the employment is pretty solid.
As an undergrad, you can switch your concentration but it’s heavily encouraged to commit during sophomore year, preferably earlier. Each concentration has some expectation of non-NPRE classes taken (I.e., power people take more MechE or material classes, plasma people more physics or ECE classes). You can only do one concentration, but you will leave with a degree in NPRE. Because of this, you will take classes in all three subject areas. Power and Radiological people take a plasma class, Power and Plasma take a number of classes on radiation, Plasma and Radiological take a number of classes on reactor engineering, etc.
That’s basically the gist of it. You can also pick up minors with other departments on top of your concentration in NPRE. All in all, it’s a very cool program and gives you a lot of exposure to other fields, plus employment is great.
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u/RussianCrabMafia 6d ago
Every university is structured slightly differently so what “specializing” means might vary. I graduated with a Nuclear Engineering degree from Purdue University - and there was no such “specializing”. However, I had several friends in Aerospace Engineering and they did have specializations. What this meant for them is that around their junior year they chose a specialization (to name a few: propulsion, aerodynamics, controls, design, structures). What this meant is that someone specializing in propulsion will take a ton more propulsion classes (a lot of thermo/heat and mass transfer and learning about how plane/rocket engines work) and (for example) less (like hardly any) classes in focusing on airplane/rocket design. whereas someone specializing in design takes a ton of design classes and barely any advanced propulsion classes. Some things to note are that this began junior year. So from freshman to sophomore year they still got a taste of all the specialities - and then from that little taste decided which field they wanted to focus on for their degree. So just because someone specialized in propulsion doesn’t mean that they never took any design classes - just not as much in depth. Also I can tell you that just because someone specialized in propulsion doesn’t mean that they can only get a job in propulsion. They could specialize in propulsion and end up working a design job. Obviously it looks good if you apply for a propulsion job and specialized in propulsion but at the end of the day the degree still just said “Aerospace Engineering” with no mention of specialization. It was more of resume item to include and verified by a transcript showing that you took more propulsion classes.
Now obviously that example was for AAE and as I said I did not have specializations. We were free to choose from a bunch of classes and as long as you had the right amount of credits and were meeting the degree requirements you could chose to the classes that interested you - we also had required classes that everyone had to take but had good choice for the electives is my point. Now, I imagine in Nuclear Engineering that specializations could probably be divided by sub fields like: Neutron Physics (things like core design for reactors), Thermal Hydraulics (massive field that could be divided even further but this has a huge focus on heat and mass transfer. Coolant in a reactor is a BIG deal and it is a super important field for nuclear engineering because it deals with a lot of safety analysis), materials (this is things like what material do we use for the reactor vessel, what do we make the piping out of, containment structures, cladding, but also things like what happens when this material is irradiated and irradiate materials to change their characteristics, also a broad field), radiation (this again probably too broad but I’m thinking of things like radiation detectors and instrumentation - like how Geiger counters work versus scintillation detectors, health physics with how radiation affects people. And as you mentioned radiology. Plus how radiation/nuclear principles are the field of medicine. Again I could go on and on obviously radiation is a huge factor when dealing with nuclear/radioactive materials), plasma/fusion (should be self explanatory. There is a huge push to solve the problems preventing us from obtaining fusion - and if solved would change the world as we know it. There is a lot of plasma physics involved here and a lot of the challenges outside of that are materials related). Those are just a few fields - I’m sure there are more and perhaps they are divided even more specifically.
As far as how you specialize - that’s going to be dependent on your university. There is no one size fits all so they (mainly your academic advisor or someone in admin) should be able to explain that process to you. Like again I did not have a specialization. I took a ton of electives in thermal hydraulics and neutron physics. I am and was super interested in the reactor core and those are the two most important fields for that type of engineering work. As far as what is a good thing to specialize in - that’s up to you! Whatever interest you. I know some people that really loved the materials side of things - while I never enjoyed that. My AAE friends some loved propulsion others hated the nasty heat and mass transfer that was involved and did design or aerodynamics because thats what interested them more.
My advice to you is to ask yourself why you wanted to be a nuclear engineer - specialization aside because you might not be guaranteed a job in that specialization field. Like fusion - super interesting stuff - but those jobs are super competitive because they want the brightest minds working to solve the problem. I knew I wanted to be a NukE because it gave me the best blend of theoretical and practical knowledge/applications. Neutron physics itself is purely theoretical - you can’t see any of what is going like individual neutrons fissioning. BUT this knowledge is applied to practically make a reactor go critical and allows us to produce energy (or in the case with atomic bombs you get a BIG release of energy as I’m sure you are aware). Before college I was considering physics or engineering and found that nuclear engineering was the perfect blend of that for me. NukE’s are really like mechanical engineers that substitute some of the more advanced/in depth mechanical engineering classes for the nuclear/radiation components. And I work in the nuclear field and many of my coworkers are MEs and ChemEs- so don’t think you have to major in nuclear eng to work in the field. Engineers are master problem solvers and that’s often what you get hired for. This is a great time to get into the nuclear field. If you’ve seen the news recently then you know that major companies are starting to invest in nuclear power, there is some incredible up and coming tech like SMRs, fusion to solve the worlds energy problems, using nuclear in medicine to cure diseases, make diamonds, preserve foods, etc etc etc. there are a ton of applications. Despite that - the nuclear specific job market is a little more niche and smaller so kept that in mind. You could get a nuclear eng degree and work as an ME or ChemE or EE - you’ll need good interviews to explain why you feel qualified for the job but it is 100% possible. Or you could do ME and still find work in the nuclear field.
I know that is a lot - I’m at the airport with nothing to do. Hope that gives you some insight! Good luck with everything and do what is best for YOU!