Exploring a Career Transition from Physics to Nuclear Engineering

[lysol]

Hi y'all, I'm a 3rd year undergraduate, finishing up a BS in physics and a BA in political science.

I've been working at a computational physics lab since freshman year, my GPA is pretty good (3.73 right now), and I'm pretty involved in campus leadership.

I love physics and the lab I'm working at; however, nuclear engineering has a pretty rich intersection between research and govt. policy/national security, which is something I've always been fascinated with. Plus, I've found myself more drawn to the 'applied' side after taking a few intro engineering classes. In short, I don't see myself doing 'pure' physics research as a career.

My school doesn't have a nuclear engineering program (in fact it's not that well-known for engineering at all, lol). But our physics program is highly-ranked here in the US, if that'll help in the grad admissions process.

I don't really know what I want to ask. Literally, any and all advice/anecdotes related to this transition would be helpful. There's a bit of existential dread that's been keeping me up the past few nights.

Oh, and are there any specific research areas or grad programs in nuclear engineering that are especially keen on physics majors? This might be a naive question

 

[berkeman]

Welcome to PF!

Paging @Astronuc @mesa @Alex A

 

[Astronuc]

Hi y'all, I'm a 3rd year undergraduate, finishing up a BS in physics and a BA in political science.

I've been working at a computational physics lab since freshman year, my GPA is pretty good (3.73 right now), and I'm pretty involved in campus leadership.

I love physics and the lab I'm working at; however, nuclear engineering has a pretty rich intersection between research and govt. policy/national security, which is something I've always been fascinated with.

I agree with one's perspective. I started in physics (nuclear and astro), but migrated into nuclear engineering, and yes the department seemed keen on someone from a physics background. The nuclear engineering program was primarily based on nuclear physics and engineering (mechanical, electrical, computer, . . . ). In the MS program, my department took physics majors who wanted to go into nuclear engineering. The studies that are unique to nuclear engineering include neutron physics, and reactor physics and design, and power plant design. Otherwise, the course work is a combination of physics and engineering (applied physics). These days, computational physics plays a greater role in nuclear engineering, as well as in physics and other engineering disciplines.

With respect to pure and/or applied physics (engineering), I actually like to do both. My particular areas of interest are materials and radiation interactions with materials, and there is tremendous opportunity to do interesting and challenging work in a variety of areas, e.g., optimizing materials for improved reliability/economy and safety in various nuclear systems, e.g., nuclear reactors and plants, for both electrical generation and process support. Radiation detection is another interesting and challenging area. With respect to nuclear reactors, one could find projects in reactor design, reactor operation, nuclear fuel design, process engineering in the manufacturing of fuel and control systems, as well as disposition of spent fuel. Radiation detection and radiation protection are other areas in interest.

intersection between research and govt. policy/national security,

Some of work involves this intersection, and I work many folks involved in this area, including global/international security.

One could look into DOE and NNSA programs at the national labs and various universities.

 

[FactChecker]

Many post-graduate engineering departments will insist that you complete a list of undergraduate engineering courses before they will accept you into their program. A lot will insist that you obtain an undergraduate engineering degree. You should take that into account.

 

[berkeman]

Many post-graduate engineering departments will insist that you complete a list of undergraduate engineering courses before they will accept you into their program. A lot will insist that you obtain an undergraduate engineering degree. You should take that into account.

That seems counter to Astro's post, no?

 

[FactChecker]

That seems counter to Astro's post, no?

Yes. I guess there is some difference between schools and departments. I am not specifically familiar with the situation in nuclear engineering and my experience was from very long ago.

 

[Astronuc]

Yes. I guess there is some difference between schools and departments. I am not specifically familiar with the situation in nuclear engineering and my experience was from very long ago.

Yes, it depends on the program (school and department). Some NE programs might require an undergraduate program in nuclear reactor theory (neutron physics).

I should poll some faculty/departments.

The best course of action would be too look at a few programs of interest and determined the prerequisites for MS/PhD. Then discuss with a department to which one would apply and determine if some courses in one's physics program would fulfill the requirements. One would have to look at the curricula in one's program and compare to requirements of an advanced degree at another university. I've known folks to get BS and/or MS at one university and PhD at another. Of course, I've known some who get BS, MS and PhD at the same university, and some who skip MS and go from BS to PhD (that's unusual, but can happen). Some of my earliest professors had degrees in Engineering Physics, since they went to university before there were nuclear engineering programs.

I believe if one has a good background in nuclear physics and radiation physics, then one would probably ease into an MS program in nuclear engineering.

Undergraduate programs tend to be general. On the nuclear side, one takes a modern physics course (or modern nuclear physics), which is much the same as one taught in a physics program. The unique courses would be those in nuclear reactor theory and nuclear power plant design. The nuclear plant design course assumes one has the nuclear reactor theory, but also courses in mechanical engineering (heat transfer, fluid mechanics, . . . ), electrical engineering (circuit theory, electromechanics (transformers, generators and motors), civil engineering (basic structural (beam, column, . . . ) analysis, structural mechanics and ideally, and mechanics of materials. I'd recommend some materials science courses. Otherwise, a physics degree would cover much of the knowledge necessary for a MS degree, or PhD, depending on the specialty. Someone specializing in fusion engineering for instance doesn't really need to know nuclear (fission) reactor theory, however, the background could be helpful, especially dealing with neutron reactions outside the plasma. Knowing about fluxes and currents is helpful.

A course in radiation detection and health physics expects one to have some background in electronics and circuit theory, since radiation detectors interact with a variety of electronic systems to take the signal from the detector and analyze it, e.g., gamma spectroscopy.

In the area of materials, we are interested in the changes in the atomic lattice of various structural materials, which involve a variety of alloys and ceramics. Depending on the temperature, pressure and radiation field, one material will be better than others. Determing which material is the best is a challenge. Another challenge is finding the best fuel materials (U, Th, Pu)X compound where X could be various other elements, e.g., O (O₂), C, N, Si, Zr, Mo, or others.

Nuclear reactors are complicated (multi-physics) systems, so these days, we are interested in computational multiphysics, i.e., modeling/simulating the neutron energy spectrum, the radiation field, the heat transfer from the fuel through cladding to the coolant, the fluid dynamics in the coolant, through the core and outside, and how all these develop during steady-state and transient conditions. That's a whole lot of simultaneous, often non-linear, partial differential equations coupled together. And one might go down to the atomic level with a specific model involving 1000s of atoms (easier to solve than 10²² atoms), in order to support a mesoscale model, which supports an engineering scale model.

 

[gmax137]

I have known and worked with many engineers in the commercial nuclear power industry who have physics bachelors and nuclear engineering masters or PhD. This is common in both the power utility staff and the reactor vendor staff.

When I took this path (physics bachelors and nuclear engineering masters) I did not take any "remedial" engineering undergrad courses. But that was a long time ago and as mentioned above, it will depend on the school.

I do remember being surprised to find engineering (in the US) is mostly done in imperial units, where my physics studies had been done in SI or cgs units; it took me awhile to get intuition for what 400,000 gallons per minute vessel flow, or 12 million pounds per hour steam looks like. A minor point at best.