Course 22: Nuclear Science and Engineering
Fall
2024
Graduate Subjects
22.101 Applied Nuclear Physics
 ( )
Prereq: Physics II (GIR) and 18.03
Units: 4-0-8
 Lecture: MW2.30-4 (24-115) Recitation: F10 (24-307)
Provides an accelerated introduction to the basic principles of nuclear physics and its application within nuclear science and engineering. Fundamentals of quantum mechanics, nuclear properties, and nuclear structure. Origins of radioactivity and radioactive decay processes. Development of nuclear reaction theory, including cross sections, energetics, and kinematics. The interactions of photons, electrons, neutrons, and ions with matter, including the use of nuclear data and modeling tools. Basic theory of radiation and particle detection, shielding, and dosimetry. Uses of nuclear physics in energy, medicine, security, and science applications.
S. Yip
No textbook information available
22.102 Applications of Nuclear Science and Engineering
(New)
( )
Prereq: None
Units: 1-0-2 [P/D/F]
Provides an overview of the current research directions and application areas in the field of nuclear science and engineering. Faculty from throughout the department each present an introduction to their field of specialization, along with targeted assignments to develop awareness and cross-links between fields.
Staff
22.103 Nuclear Technology and Society
(New)
()
Prereq: 22.01 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-6
Credit cannot also be received for 22.16
Lecture: MW11-12.30 (24-115)
Introduces the societal context and challenges for nuclear technology. Major themes include economics and valuation of nuclear power, interactions with government and regulatory frameworks, safety, quantification of radiation hazards, and public attitudes to risk. Covers policies and methods for limiting nuclear-weapons proliferation, including nuclear detection, materials security, and fuel-cycle policy.
S. Yip
No textbook information available
22.11 Applied Nuclear Physics
()  ; first half of term
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: 22.02 or permission of instructor
Units: 2-0-4
Introduction to nuclear structure, reactions, and radioactivity. Review of quantization, the wave function, angular momentum and tunneling. Simplified application to qualitative understanding of nuclear structure. Stable and unstable isotopes, radioactive decay, decay products and chains. Nuclear reactions, cross-sections, and fundamental forces, and the resulting phenomena.
Staff
22.12 Radiation Interactions, Control, and Measurement
() ; second half of term
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: 8.02 or permission of instructor
Units: 2-0-4
The interaction, attenuation, and biological effects of penetrating radiation, especially neutrons and photons. Physical processes of radiation scattering and absorption, and their cross-sections. Outline of health physics. Biological effects of radiation, and its quantification. Principles of radiation shielding, detection, dosimetry and radiation protection.
Staff
22.13 Nuclear Energy Systems
() ; first half of term
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: 2.005, 22.01, or permission of instructor
Units: 2-0-4
Introduction to generation of energy from nuclear reactions. Characteristics of nuclear energy. Fission cross-sections, criticality, and reaction control. Basic considerations of fission reactor engineering, thermal hydraulics, and safety. Nuclear fuel and waste characteristics. Fusion reactions and the character and conditions of energy generation. Plasma physics and approaches to achieving terrestrial thermonuclear fusion energy.
Staff
22.14 Materials in Nuclear Engineering
() ; second half of term
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: Chemistry (GIR) or permission of instructor
Units: 2-0-4
Introduces the fundamental phenomena of materials science with special attention to radiation and harsh environments. Materials lattices and defects and the consequent understanding of strength of materials, fatigue, cracking, and corrosion. Coulomb collisions of charged particles; their effects on structured materials; damage and defect production, knock-ons, transmutation, cascades and swelling. Materials in fission and fusion applications: cladding, waste, plasma-facing components, blankets.
Staff
22.15 Essential Numerical Methods
() ; first half of term
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: 12.010 or permission of instructor
Units: 2-0-4
Introduces computational methods for solving physical problems in nuclear applications. Ordinary and partial differential equations for particle orbit, and fluid, field, and particle conservation problems; their representation and solution by finite difference numerical approximations. Iterative matrix inversion methods. Stability, convergence, accuracy and statistics. Particle representations of Boltzmann's equation and methods of solution such as Monte-Carlo and particle-in-cell techniques.
Staff
22.16 Nuclear Technology and Society
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: 22.01 or permission of instructor
Units: 2-0-4
Credit cannot also be received for 22.103
Introduces the societal context and challenges for nuclear technology. Major themes include economics and valuation of nuclear power, interactions with government and regulatory frameworks, safety, quantification of radiation hazards, and public attitudes to risk. Covers policies and methods for limiting nuclear-weapons proliferation, including nuclear detection, materials security, and fuel-cycle policy.
Staff
Nuclear Reactor Physics
22.211 Nuclear Reactor Physics I
()
Prereq: 22.05
Units: 3-0-9
Provides an overview of reactor physics methods for core design and analysis. Topics include nuclear data, neutron slowing down, homogeneous and heterogeneous resonance absorption, calculation of neutron spectra, determination of group constants, nodal diffusion methods, Monte Carlo simulations of reactor core reload design methods.
Staff
22.212 Nuclear Reactor Analysis II
 ()
Prereq: 22.211
Units: 3-2-7
Addresses advanced topics in nuclear reactor physics with an additional focus towards computational methods and algorithms for neutron transport. Covers current methods employed in lattice physics calculations, such as resonance models, critical spectrum adjustments, advanced homogenization techniques, fine mesh transport theory models, and depletion solvers. Also presents deterministic transport approximation techniques, such as the method of characteristics, discrete ordinates methods, and response matrix methods.
Staff
22.213 Nuclear Reactor Physics III
 ()
Prereq: 22.211
Units: 3-0-9
Covers numerous high-level topics in nuclear reactor analysis methods and builds on the student's background in reactor physics to develop a deep understanding of concepts needed for time-dependent nuclear reactor core physics, including coupled non-linear feedback effects. Introduces numerical algorithms needed to solve real-world time-dependent reactor physics problems in both diffusion and transport. Additional topics include iterative numerical solution methods (e.g., CG, GMRES, JFNK, MG), nonlinear accelerator methods, and numerous modern time-integration techniques.
Staff
22.251 Systems Analysis of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle
()
(Subject meets with 22.051)
Prereq: 22.05
Units: 3-2-7
TBA.
Study of the relationship between the technical and policy elements of the nuclear fuel cycle. Topics include uranium supply, enrichment, fuel fabrication, in-core reactivity and fuel management of uranium and other fuel types, used fuel reprocessing and waste disposal. Principles of fuel cycle economics and the applied reactor physics of both contemporary and proposed thermal and fast reactors are presented. Nonproliferation aspects, disposal of excess weapons plutonium, and transmutation of long lived radioisotopes in spent fuel are examined. Several state-of-the-art computer programs relevant to reactor core physics and heat transfer are provided for student use in problem sets and term papers. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.
Staff
Nuclear Reactor Engineering
22.312 Engineering of Nuclear Reactors
()
Prereq: (2.001 and 2.005) or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: MW9.30-11 (24-112) +final
Engineering principles of nuclear reactors, emphasizing power reactors. Power plant thermodynamics, reactor heat generation and removal (single-phase as well as two-phase coolant flow and heat transfer), and structural mechanics. Engineering considerations in reactor design.
J. Buongiorno
No textbook information available
22.313[J] Thermal Hydraulics in Power Technology
()
(Same subject as 2.59[J], 10.536[J])
Prereq: 2.006, 10.302, 22.312, or permission of instructor
Units: 3-2-7
Lecture: TR2.30-4 (24-112)
Emphasis on thermo-fluid dynamic phenomena and analysis methods for conventional and nuclear power stations. Kinematics and dynamics of two-phase flows. Steam separation. Boiling, instabilities, and critical conditions. Single-channel transient analysis. Multiple channels connected at plena. Loop analysis including single and two-phase natural circulation. Subchannel analysis.
M. Bucci
No textbook information available
22.315 Applied Computational Fluid Dynamics and Heat Transfer
()
Prereq: Permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
Focuses on the application of computational fluid dynamics to the analysis of power generation and propulsion systems, and on industrial and chemical processes in general. Discusses simulation methods for single and multiphase applications and their advantages and limitations in industrial situations. Students practice breaking down an industrial problem into its modeling challenges, designing and implementing a plan to optimize and validate the modeling approach, performing the analysis, and quantifying the uncertainty margin.
Staff
22.33 Nuclear Engineering Design
()
(Subject meets with 22.033)
Prereq: 22.312
Units: 3-0-15
Lecture: TR11-12.30 (24-115)
Group design project involving integration of nuclear physics, particle transport, control, heat transfer, safety, instrumentation, materials, environmental impact, and economic optimization. Provides opportunity to synthesize knowledge acquired in nuclear and non-nuclear subjects and apply this knowledge to practical problems of current interest in nuclear applications design. Past projects have included using a fusion reactor for transmutation of nuclear waste, design and implementation of an experiment to predict and measure pebble flow in a pebble bed reactor, and development of a mission plan for a manned Mars mission including the conceptual design of a nuclear powered space propulsion system and power plant for the Mars surface. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.
Staff
No textbook information available
22.38 Probability and Its Applications To Reliability, Quality Control, and Risk Assessment
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: Permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
Interpretations of the concept of probability. Basic probability rules; random variables and distribution functions; functions of random variables. Applications to quality control and the reliability assessment of mechanical/electrical components, as well as simple structures and redundant systems. Elements of statistics. Bayesian methods in engineering. Methods for reliability and risk assessment of complex systems, (event-tree and fault-tree analysis, common-cause failures, human reliability models). Uncertainty propagation in complex systems (Monte Carlo methods, Latin hypercube sampling). Introduction to Markov models. Examples and applications from nuclear and other industries, waste repositories, and mechanical systems. Open to qualified undergraduates.
Staff
22.39 Integration of Reactor Design, Operations, and Safety
()
(Subject meets with 22.039)
Prereq: 22.211 and 22.312
Units: 3-2-7
Lecture: TR9.30-11 (24-115) Lab: TBA
Integration of reactor physics and engineering sciences into nuclear power plant design focusing on designs that are projected to be used in the first half of this century. Topics include materials issues in plant design and operations, aspects of thermal design, fuel depletion and fission-product poisoning, and temperature effects on reactivity. Safety considerations in regulations and operations such as the evolution of the regulatory process, the concept of defense in depth, general design criteria, accident analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and risk-informed regulations. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.
Staff
No textbook information available
22.40[J] Fundamentals of Advanced Energy Conversion
()
(Same subject as 2.62[J], 10.392[J])
(Subject meets with 2.60[J], 10.390[J])
Prereq: 2.006, (2.051 and 2.06), or permission of instructor
Units: 4-0-8
Fundamentals of thermodynamics, chemistry, and transport applied to energy systems. Analysis of energy conversion and storage in thermal, mechanical, chemical, and electrochemical processes in power and transportation systems, with emphasis on efficiency, performance and environmental impact. Applications to fuel reforming and alternative fuels, hydrogen, fuel cells and batteries, combustion, catalysis, combined and hybrid power cycles using fossil, nuclear and renewable resources. CO2 separation and capture. Biomass energy. Meets with 2.60 when offered concurrently; students taking the graduate version complete additional assignments.
Staff
Radiation Interactions and Applications
22.51[J] Quantum Technology and Devices
()
(Same subject as 8.751[J])
(Subject meets with 22.022)
Prereq: 22.11
Units: 3-0-9
Examines the unique features of quantum theory to generate technologies with capabilities beyond any classical device. Introduces fundamental concepts in applied quantum mechanics, tools and applications of quantum technology, with a focus on quantum information processing beyond quantum computation. Includes discussion of quantum devices and experimental platforms drawn from active research in academia and industry. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.
Staff
22.52 Quantum Theory of Materials Characterization
()
(Subject meets with 22.052)
Prereq: 8.511 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
Lecture: MW10-11.30 (24-307)
Holistic theoretical foundation of characterization techniques with photons, electrons, and neutron probes in various spaces. Techniques for assessing real space, reciprocal space, energy space, and time space utilizing microscopy, diffraction, spectroscopy, and time-domain methods. Elucidation of microscopic interaction mechanisms of materials. Practical assessment of what each characterization measures, methods for linking experimental features to microscopic materials information, state of the art methods for combining information, and machine learning aids. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.
Staff
No textbook information available
22.54[J] Biomedical Systems: Modeling and Inference
 ()
(Same subject as 6.4800[J])
Prereq: (6.3100 and (18.06 or 18.C06)) or permission of instructor
Units: 4-4-4
Medically motivated examples of problems in human health that engage students in systems modeling, signal analysis and inference, and design. Content draws on two domains, first by establishing a model of the human cardiovascular system with signal analysis and inference applications of electrocardiograms in health and disease. In a second topic, medical imaging by MRI is motivated by examples of common clinical decision making, followed by laboratory work with technology and instrumentation with the functionality of commercial diagnostic scanners. Students apply concepts from lectures in labs for data collection for image reconstruction, image analysis, and inference by their own design. Labs further include kits for interactive and portable low-cost devices that can be assembled by the students to demonstrate fundamental building blocks of an MRI system.
E. Adalsteinsson, T. Heldt, C. M. Stultz, J. K. White
22.55[J] Radiation Biophysics
()
(Same subject as HST.560[J])
(Subject meets with 22.055)
Prereq: Permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
Provides a background in sources of radiation with an emphasis on terrestrial and space environments and on industrial production. Discusses experimental approaches to evaluating biological effects resulting from irradiation regimes differing in radiation type, dose and dose-rate. Effects at the molecular, cellular, organism, and population level are examined. Literature is reviewed identifying gaps in our understanding of the health effects of radiation, and responses of regulatory bodies to these gaps is discussed. Students taking graduate version complete additional assignments.
Staff
22.561[J] Magnetic Resonance Analytic, Biochemical, and Imaging Techniques
()
(Same subject as HST.584[J])
Prereq: Permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-12
Introduction to basic NMR theory. Examples of biochemical data obtained using NMR summarized along with other related experiments. Detailed study of NMR imaging techniques includes discussions of basic cross-sectional image reconstruction, image contrast, flow and real-time imaging, and hardware design considerations. Exposure to laboratory NMR spectroscopic and imaging equipment included.
L. Wald, B. Bilgic
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