NUCLEAR ENGINEERING

the field of engineering that deals with the control and use of energy and radiation released from nuclear reactions. It encompasses the development, design, and construction of power reactors, naval-propulsion reactors, nuclear fuel-cycle facilities, and radioactive-waste disposal facilities; the development and production of nuclear weapons; and the production and application of radioisotopes. field of engineering that deals with the production and application of nuclear energy. Nuclear engineering is chiefly concerned with the development, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of nuclear reactor systems; the manufacture and reprocessing of nuclear fuels; and the safe handling and disposal of the radioactive waste products that result from the operation of nuclear reactors. Nuclear engineering also involves research and developmental work on fusion reactors, systems that would provide control over the rates of thermonuclear reactions in high-temperature plasmas so as to maintain the release of nuclear energy at a level at which it can be efficiently transformed into electrical energy. Nuclear engineering emerged as a separate discipline after World War II as plans developed to turn the new knowledge gained from the nuclear weapons program that produced the first atomic bomb toward peaceful uses. Engineers and physicists from these programs became involved as the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission initiated reactor experiments at its laboratories. Admiral Hyman Rickover established a nuclear reactor program in the U.S. Navy with the development of nuclear-powered submarines as its objective. This had a profound effect on the development of commercial reactors by rapidly pushing ahead the construction of light-water reactors. This program resulted in the historic voyage of the nuclear submarine Nautilus under the Arctic icecap in 1958 and the development (195657) of the first American full-scale, experimental nuclear power plant, in Shippingport, Pa. The basic academic discipline underlying nuclear engineering is physics, particularly nuclear physics. Knowledge of the engineering sciences is also essential. Whether they work for government, public utilities, or universities, nuclear engineers are a necessary adjunct of all work in reactor technology. Nuclear engineering is a field steadily increasing in importance. By the late 20th century many countries had nuclear energy programs, with hundreds of nuclear reactors in operation, under construction, or in the final planning stages. Some countries, such as France, were committed to producing well over 50 percent of their electrical power needs with nuclear fission reactors. Additional reading Henry De Wolf Smyth, Atomic Energy for Military Purposes: The Official Report on the Development of the Atomic Bomb Under the Auspices of the United States Government, 19401945 (1945, reprinted 1989), on the U.S. development of the atomic bomb, is commonly known as the Smyth report and was issued by the Manhattan District of the U.S. Corps of Engineers. Richard G. Hewlett and Francis Duncan, Nuclear Navy, 19461962 (1974), serves as a historical and analytical study. C. Larson and D. Duffy, Historical Perspectives: Dawn of the Nuclear Age (1989), is another useful source of historical information. Glenn T. Seaborg and William R. Corliss, Man and Atom (1971), explores peaceful applications of nuclear energy. Samuel Glasstone and Alexander Sesonske, Nuclear Reactor Engineering, 3rd ed. (1981), serves as a basic work for nuclear engineering education. Manson Benedict, Thomas H. Pigford, and Hans Wolfgang Levi, Nuclear Chemical Engineering, 2nd ed. (1981), stands as a comprehensive work that emphasizes nuclear processing and includes useful information on metallurgy. K. Almenas and R. Lee, Nuclear Engineering: An Introduction (1992), is also of interest. Raymond L. Murray, Nuclear Energy, 4th ed. (1993), serves as an introduction to basic nuclear processes. Ira Bornstein The Editors of the Encyclopdia Britannica