2025 (Current Year) Faculty Courses School of Environment and Society Undergraduate major in Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
Basic Nuclear Engineering 2
- Academic unit or major
- Undergraduate major in Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
- Instructor(s)
- Masahiko Nakase
- Class Format
- Lecture (Face-to-face)
- Media-enhanced courses
- -
- Day of week/Period
(Classrooms) - 5-6 Mon
- Class
- -
- Course Code
- TSE.A338
- Number of credits
- 100
- Course offered
- 2025
- Offered quarter
- 2Q
- Syllabus updated
- Mar 25, 2025
- Language
- English
Syllabus
Course overview and goals
Following the study of nuclear reactors in the first lecture(Basic Nuclear Engineering 1), this lecture aims to provide students with an overview of nuclear engineering from the nuclear back end, upstream to downstream. Isotope separation and enrichment, treatment and disposal of radioactive waste, and wet reprocessing and dry reprocessing as reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel are discussed. Furthermore, from the perspective of the nexus between the environment and nuclear power, the environmental release of fission products and future technologies for the nuclear fuel cycle will be introduced. In the final part of the lecture, the lecture will be summarized through nuclear fuel cycle scenarios and material quantity assessment. This lecture will provide an overview of the wide range of nuclear engineering.
Course description and aims
This course aims to provide students with an understanding of the main processes of the nuclear fuel cycle: nuclide separation and enrichment, spent fuel reprocessing, and radioactive waste and disposal concepts, as well as the relationship between nuclear power and the environment, an overview of innovative nuclear technologies, and the breadth and interest of nuclear engineering as a comprehensive engineering field.
Student learning outcomes
実務経験と講義内容との関連 (又は実践的教育内容)
Lectures are given in collaboration with experts in various fields related to nuclear engineering (e.g., specified professors) in addition to the main faculty member in charge.
Keywords
Nuclear fuel cycle, Nuclear chemical engineering, Nuclide separation and enrichment, Nuclear fuel reprocessing, Radioactive waste, Nuclear power and environment, Nuclear transmutation, Nuclear fuel cycle scenarios, and quantity assessment.
Competencies
- Specialist skills
- Intercultural skills
- Communication skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Practical and/or problem-solving skills
- Comprehensive understanding of the wide range of nuclear engineering.
Class flow
Lecture of 90 minutes and assignment after the lecture. The similarity judgement system will check all reports, so please be careful. The originality and passion for the report will be highly evaluated.
Course schedule/Objectives
| Course schedule | Objectives | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1 | Introduction | After explaining the overall lecture, an overview of the current state of nuclear energy and the nuclear fuel cycle will be given. |
| Class 2 | Isotopic Separation and Enrichment | You will understand the theory of isotope separation and enrichment. |
| Class 3 | Radioactive Waste Treatment and Disposal | You will understand the vitrification of high-level radioactive waste and its geological disposal. |
| Class 4 | Reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels; wet- and pyro-reprocessing | You will understand the wet-reprocessing and pyro-reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels. |
| Class 5 | Environmental release of TRU and Fission Products | You will understand the relationship between nuclear power and the environment through an overview of the Oklo natural nuclear and the environmental release of radioactive materials in the TMI, Chernobyl, and Fukushima accidents. |
| Class 6 | Future technologies for nuclear fuel cycle: Partitioning, Recycling and Transmutation | The lecture will introduce the improvement of the nuclear fuel cycle to achieve less burdensome waste disposal and more efficient use of resources. |
| Class 7 | Scenario and mass balance studies of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Summary of the entire lecture | An overview of nuclear fuel cycle simulators and scenario evaluation to understand nuclear energy utilization scenarios and technology deployment strategies will be explained. Finally, a summary of the series of lectures will be given. |
Study advice (preparation and review)
To improve the effectiveness of learning, students are expected to prepare for and review the contents of each class for approximately 100 minutes by referring to the appropriate sections of the textbook, handouts, etc. The topics covered in the lectures are deliberately numerous to stimulate interest in nuclear engineering, so please make sure to research and review any points you don't understand after the lecture.
Textbook(s)
Benedict、Pigford and Levi : Nuclear Chemical Engineering, McGraw Hill
Reference books, course materials, etc.
None in particular
Evaluation methods and criteria
The level of understanding of the lectures is evaluated mainly by the reports given in the lectures.
Related courses
- NCL.D501 ： Special Lecture on Reactor Decommissioning
- TSE.A311 ： Introduction to Nuclear Engineering
- NCL.C403 ： Nuclear Chemical Engineering
Prerequisites
None in particular
Other
The order of the lecture content may change.