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Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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NC State celebrates 70 years of nuclear engineering education
An early picture of the research reactor building on the North Carolina State University campus. The Department of Nuclear Engineering is celebrating the 70th anniversary of its nuclear engineering curriculum in 2020–2021. Photo: North Carolina State University
The Department of Nuclear Engineering at North Carolina State University has spent the 2020–2021 academic year celebrating the 70th anniversary of its becoming the first U.S. university to establish a nuclear engineering curriculum. It started in 1950, when Clifford Beck, then of Oak Ridge, Tenn., obtained support from NC State’s dean of engineering, Harold Lampe, to build the nation’s first university nuclear reactor and, in conjunction, establish an educational curriculum dedicated to nuclear engineering.
The department, host to the 2021 ANS Virtual Student Conference, scheduled for April 8–10, now features 23 tenure/tenure-track faculty and three research faculty members. “What a journey for the first nuclear engineering curriculum in the nation,” said Kostadin Ivanov, professor and department head.
Gary E. Rochau, the Z-Pinch Power Plant Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | April 2005 | Pages 641-644
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Inertial Fusion Technology | dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A758
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Z-Pinch Power Plant uses the results from Sandia National Laboratories' Z accelerator in a power plant application to generate energy pulses using inertial confinement fusion. A collaborative project has been initiated by Sandia to investigate the scientific principles of a power generation system using this technology. Research is under way to develop an integrated concept that describes the operational issues of a 1000 MW electrical power plant. Issues under consideration include: 1-20 gigajoule fusion pulse containment, repetitive mechanical connection of heavy hardware, generation of terawatt pulses every 10 seconds, recycling of ten thousand tons of steel, and manufacturing of millions of hohlraums and capsules per year.Additionally, waste generation and disposal issues are being examined. This paper describes the current concept for the plant and also the objectives for future research.
