TY - GEN
T1 - Consolidation of reactor physics education - The Khalifa University student field trips case study
AU - Alameri, Saeed A.
AU - Alrwashdeh, Mohammad
AU - Beeley, Philip
AU - Kim, Myung Hyun
AU - Unlu, Kenan
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by Khalifa University of Science and Technology Grant, FSU 8474000067. The authors would like to thank Penn State University, National Tsing Hua University, Kyung Hee University, and Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute for providing KU students with the necessary resources for performing the calculations and experiments needed to assist them in developing the knowledge of applied reactor physics.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - In 2010, the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Khalifa University of Science and Technology (NUCE) established the MSc degree in Nuclear Engineering. This program was established to support the United Arab Emirates (UAE) emerging civil nuclear energy program and produce graduate engineers capable of supporting the safe construction, operation, maintenance and eventual decommissioning of the UAE nuclear reactors. In order to enhance and consolidate classroom teaching, an overseas “Field Trip” module was integrated into the MSc curriculum in order to provide practical exercises, demonstrations and site visits. With respect to the consolidation of reactor physics teaching in particular, the field trips over the past 9 years have utilized mainly the AGN Zero Power reactor at Kyung Hee University (2012-2015) and the Breazeale TRIGA reactor at Penn State University (2017-2018). In both cases students gained “hands-on” supervised experience in classical reactor experiments, shielding measurements, health physics and radiological protection control, and radioanalytical measurement methods, such as neutron activation analysis. At Penn State University, the experiments were extended to surveillance measurements, taking advantage of the facilities specialized modules in nuclear security. This paper provides details of the arrangements made for the field trips and the learning outcomes these practical arrangements helped to satisfy meeting the overall degree outcomes. The case study will also illustrate where a nuclear energy newcomer State can take advantage of international collaborations without the need to invest in a national research reactor.
AB - In 2010, the Department of Nuclear Engineering at Khalifa University of Science and Technology (NUCE) established the MSc degree in Nuclear Engineering. This program was established to support the United Arab Emirates (UAE) emerging civil nuclear energy program and produce graduate engineers capable of supporting the safe construction, operation, maintenance and eventual decommissioning of the UAE nuclear reactors. In order to enhance and consolidate classroom teaching, an overseas “Field Trip” module was integrated into the MSc curriculum in order to provide practical exercises, demonstrations and site visits. With respect to the consolidation of reactor physics teaching in particular, the field trips over the past 9 years have utilized mainly the AGN Zero Power reactor at Kyung Hee University (2012-2015) and the Breazeale TRIGA reactor at Penn State University (2017-2018). In both cases students gained “hands-on” supervised experience in classical reactor experiments, shielding measurements, health physics and radiological protection control, and radioanalytical measurement methods, such as neutron activation analysis. At Penn State University, the experiments were extended to surveillance measurements, taking advantage of the facilities specialized modules in nuclear security. This paper provides details of the arrangements made for the field trips and the learning outcomes these practical arrangements helped to satisfy meeting the overall degree outcomes. The case study will also illustrate where a nuclear energy newcomer State can take advantage of international collaborations without the need to invest in a national research reactor.
KW - Field trips
KW - Reactor physics education
KW - Research reactors
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85108401502&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1051/epjconf/202124714002
DO - 10.1051/epjconf/202124714002
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85108401502
T3 - International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020
SP - 2430
EP - 2435
BT - International Conference on Physics of Reactors
A2 - Margulis, Marat
A2 - Blaise, Partrick
T2 - 2020 International Conference on Physics of Reactors: Transition to a Scalable Nuclear Future, PHYSOR 2020
Y2 - 28 March 2020 through 2 April 2020
ER -