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| Nuclear Engineering |
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Today nuclear engineering is a dynamic and expanding field, and today's nuclear engineers contribute across a variety of nuclear applications that improve human heath and welfare. Nuclear engineers are leading in research & industry that will enable long-term sustainable and economic production of nuclear energy from fission and fusion; provide for responsible recycle and disposal of nuclear wastes; develop advanced, radiation tolerant materials for high-temperature applications; assure security by detecting illicit transfers of nuclear materials; and advance applications of nuclear methods for medical imaging and therapy.
Today nuclear energy provides over 70% of all non-fossil electricity generation in the United States, and U.S. utilities are moving forward with license applications to build some 30 new, Generation III+ advanced light water reactors to further expand this contribution. Work is underway to develop advanced fuel cycle and Generation IV reactor technologies that can consume nuclear wastes while providing economic and secure supplies of electricity, low-carbon transportation fuels, and desalinated water. New approaches for geologic disposal of residual nuclear wastes are being considered, and Berkeley is active in studying how different options can be coupled to advanced, sustainable fuel cycles.
India is in the middle of the biggest expansion of nuclear power in its history, adding 20 GWe in the next 14 years in the form of pressure water reactors and fast breeder reactors. At the same time, the United States is overturning decades of policy in order to resume the export of nuclear materials to India, opening up the possibility of private investors in the Indian nuclear industry for the first time.
Students studying in nuclear engineering become true multi-disciplinary specialists, and many undergraduates choose to pursue joint major degrees with mechanical, materials science, chemical, or electrical engineering. Those who graduate today enter an expanding job market in industry, national laboratories, government and academia, where one can work on problems that will have large impact on our future environment, security, health and safety.
Nuclear engineering is the branch of engineering concerned with the application of the breakdown of atomic nuclei and/or other sub-atomic physics, based on the principles of nuclear physics. It includes, but is not limited to, the interaction and maintenance of nuclear fission systems and components— specifically, nuclear reactors, nuclear power plants, and/or nuclear weapons. The field may also include the study of nuclear fusion, medical and other applications of (generally ionizing) radiation, nuclear safety, heat/thermodynamics transport, nuclear fuel and/or other related (e.g., waste disposal) technology, nuclear proliferation, and the effect of radioactive waste or radioactivity in the environment. |
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SCOPE & APPLICATIONS
Nuclear fission (Nuclear Energy) |
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It is the disintegration of a fissionable atom's nucleus into two or more different elements nuclei. An approximate number of ~2.4 neutrons are scattered around per fission. There are two types of nuclear fission. 1-Fast Fission 2-Thermal fission.
The United States gets about 20% of its electricity from nuclear power. India has made a strong start in this direction and is soon catching up. This is a massive industry and keeping the supply of nuclear engineers plentiful will ensure its stability. Nuclear engineers in this field generally work, directly or indirectly, in the nuclear power industry or for government labs. Current research in industry is directed at producing economical, proliferation resistant reactor designs with passive safety features. Although government labs research the same areas as industry, they also study a myriad of other issues such as: nuclear fuels and nuclear fuel cycles, advanced reactor designs, and nuclear weapon design and maintenance. A principal pipeline for trained personnel for US reactor facilities is the Navy Nuclear Power Program.
Areas in nuclear fusion and plasma physics include high-temperature, plasma dynamics, and radiation-resistant materials. A different source of nuclear energy results from the controlled fusion of light elements, hydrogen and its isotopes in particular. Since the basic source of fuel for fusion can be easily and inexpensively extracted from the ocean, the supply is virtually inexhaustible. Fusion reactions can only readily occur in a fully ionized plasma heated to many million degrees (150 million °K). Such hot plasmas that cannot be contained by material walls are usually confined instead by strong magnetic fields. Recent progress within the international fusion community increases the likelihood that controlled fusion will become a practical source of energy within the next half-century. |
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| Nuclear medicine and Medical Physics |
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From x-ray machines to MRI to PET, among many others, nuclear medicine provides most of modern medicine's diagnostic capability along with providing many treatment options.
X-Ray Image of a male skull
Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan of a head
PET taken with an ECAT Exact HR+ PET Scanner
Nuclear materials and nuclear Fuels
Nuclear materials research focuses on two main subject areas, nuclear fuels and irradiation-induced modification of materials. Improvement of nuclear fuels is crucial for obtaining increased efficiency from nuclear reactors. Irradiation effects studies have many purposes, from studying structural changes to reactor components to studying nano-modification of metals using ion-beams or particle accelerators.
Uranium ore, the principal raw material of nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel pellets
A Focused ion beam |
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| Radiation measurements and imaging |
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Nuclear engineers and radiological scientists are interested in the development of more advanced ionizing radiation measurement and detection systems, and using these to improve imaging technologies. This includes detector design, fabrication and analysis, measurements of fundamental atomic and nuclear parameters, and radiation imaging systems, among other things.
A modern Geiger counter
A neutron detector
Scintillation detector next to Uraninite |
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| Aerospace engineering |
Aerospace engineering is the branch of engineering behind the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is broken into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. The former deals with craft that stay within Earth's atmosphere, and the latter deals with craft that operate outside of Earth's atmosphere.
While aeronautical engineering was the original term, the broader "aerospace" has superseded it in usage, as flight technology advanced to include craft operating in outer space. Aerospace engineering, particularly the astronautics branch, is often informally called rocket science.
Aeronautical / Aerospace Engineering is one of the most challenging fields of engineering with a wide scope for growth. This field deals with the development of new technology in the field of aviation, space exploration and defence systems. It specialises in the designing, construction, development, testing, operation and maintenance of both commercial and military aircraft, spacecrafts and their components as well as satellites and missiles.
As Aerospace engineering involves design and manufacture of very high technology systems, the job requires manual, technical as well as mechanical aptitude. Aeronautical engineer's usually work in teams under the supervision of senior engineers, bringing together their skills and technical expertise. Though highly paid, the work is very demanding. An aeronautical engineer needs to be physically fit and fully dedicated to his work. One needs to be alert, have an eye for detail and should have a high level of mathematical precision to be successful. |
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| Areas of Specialisation |
The specialisations includes in areas like structural design, navigational guidance and control systems, instrumentation and communication or production methods or it can be in a particular product such as military aircrafts, passenger planes, helicopters, satellites, rockets etc. Engineers may work in areas like design, development, maintenance as well as in the managerial and teaching posts in institutes. They find a very good demand in airlines, aircraft manufacturing units, air turbine production plants or design development programmes for the aviation industry. Aerospace environment is sophisticated with rewarding career opportunities involving leading-edge technology.
• Aerodynamics
• Dynamics & Control
• Aerospace Propulsion
• Aerospace Structures
• Systems Design and Engineering and many more
Areas of Specialisation
Aeronautical Engineers work with one of the most technologically advanced branches of engineering. The main thrust in this area is on design and development of aircrafts to space and satellite research. Jobs are available with the national, international, public and private Airline Services as well as aircraft-manufacturing units.
Job opportunities for an Aeronautical Engineer in India, lies with various airlines like Air India, Indian Airlines, Helicopter Corporation of India and flying clubs, private airlines and government owned air service and aircraft manufacturers like the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) with its factories at Bangalore, Nashik, Koraput, Kanpur etc. Defense Research and Development Laboratories, National Aeronautical Lab (NAL), Aeronautical Development Establishment, Civil Aviation Department etc. The Defence services and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) also happen to be two major employers.
Initially, candidates begin work as graduate engineer trainees or junior Engineers. Keeping in view their performance, academic background and aptitude, they are placed for training in the aircraft maintenance/overhaul or support section. On completion of training they are placed as assistant aircraft engineers or assistant technical officers. They have to clear departmental examinations for further promotions. They may advance to administrative or executive positions or become consultants. Aeronautical engineers are assisted by aircraft mechanics in maintenance of aircraft frame, engine, electrical system and other ancillary fittings.
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| Oil and Gas Engineering |
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This is an engineering discipline concerned with the subsurface activities related to the production of hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. These activities are deemed to fall within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry, which are the activities of finding and producing hydrocarbons. (Refining and distribution to a market are referred to as the downstream sector.) Exploration, by earth scientists, and petroleum engineering are the oil and gas industry's two main subsurface disciplines, which focus on maximizing economic recovery of hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs. Petroleum geology and geophysics focus on provision of a static description of the hydrocarbon reservoir rock, while petroleum engineering focuses on estimation of the recoverable volume of this resource using a detailed understanding of the physical behavior of oil, water and gas within porous rock at very high pressure.
Meeting the requirements of India's rapidly expanding economy is creating a tremendous surge in the demand for Hydrocarbons. Current demand of crude oil hovers around 146 MMT while the domestic production is around 34 MMT. Consumption of natural gas has increased substantially during the past decade to meet the demand requirements from fertilizer, petrochemicals, power generation and domestic use. While the current demand of natural gas is close to around 179 mmscmd, the supply for domestic production is around 87 mmscmd. In the ongoing quest for bridging the demand-supply gap, the national oil companies and the private sector is looking at deep drilling, enhanced oil recovery and other cutting edge technologies. In recent times oil industry of India has also made great strides and spread its activities in foreign land. Due to the concerted effort of Government of India under various exploration rounds, India is becoming an attractive destination for foreign oil majors. The emerging trends in oil and gas exploration in India have opened up hydrocarbon prospect of our sedimentary basins, particularly in the deep waters of East coast and in the onland part of Barmer - Sanchora Basin of Rajasthan.
The concerted effort and the strategic move by the Government of India are slowly bringing in hitherto unexplored areas under exploration activity.
Hydrocarbon vision 2025 document of the Government envisages total appraisal of all sedimentary basin of India by 2025 and achieve R/P ratio of more than 1. The widening gap between demand and supply situation for oil and natural gas requires accelerated exploratory efforts by infusion of latest technology, innovative ideas and favourable policy environments. Buoyed by the increased availability of gas for D-6 block of Krishna-Godavari Basin, new investments are expected to be undertaken to promote gas use in the industrial, city gas distribution and transportation segments. In order to discuss various prospects and challenges that exist in the Indian Oil and Gas sector.
Liberalisation since 90’s has changed the face both of India and Indian industrial sector. It is part highest developing club with China, Brazil, USSR and Mexico. Growing Export market, booming and competitive domestic retail market has created growth of domestic market and increased demand for educated, qualified and professional people all over India. There is great demand for Indian engineering and other professionals all over the world, especially USA, UK, Australia and Europe.
Petroleum (Oil&Gas) Engineering is a recent development in the field of technical education, which is becoming very much popular among aspiring students. Petroleum engineers are involved in the exploration and production activities of petroleum, which is an upstream end of the energy sector. The discipline of petroleum Engineering sector deals with wide range of topics, including economics, geology, geochemistry, geomechanics, geophysics, oil drilling, geopolitics, knowledge management, seismology, tectonics, thermodynamics, well logging, well completion, oil and gas production, reservoir development, and pipelines etc.
Job Prospectus
Petroleum engineering, being a rare field of engineering study, offers quite lucrative job opportunities to the graduates. Fresher may find ample scope in public undertakings as well as in corporate sector that deal with petroleum exploration and extraction. |
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A Petroleum engineer’s task involves bringing oil or gas from the reservoir to the surface economically, safely and with minimum damage to the reservoir and facilities. Other activities include management of material resources and contractor relationships and also supervising drilling personnel. They work in multidisciplinary teams alongside other engineers, scientists, drilling teams and contractors.
The world continues to demand safe, affordable energy sources and that will always make a degree in petroleum engineering a valuable investment. And the rewards for such a career are going to be long-term. Apart from opting for professional career, one can also do research work for further development of the field. He/she may join research labs as scientists or research fellow to carry out the R&D processes. The combined efforts of geologists and petroleum engineers throughout the life of a hydrocarbon accumulation determine the way in which a reservoir is developed and depleted, and usually they have the highest impact on field economics. Petroleum (Oil&Gas) engineering requires a good knowledge of many other related disciplines, such as geophysics, petroleum geology, formation evaluation (well logging), drilling, economics, reservoir simulation, well engineering, artificial lift systems, and oil & gas facilities engineering.
Scope & Application
Engineer in this field divide themselves into several types:
• Reservoir engineers work to optimize production of oil and gas via proper well placement, production levels, and enhanced oil recovery techniques.
• Drilling engineers manage the technical aspects of drilling exploratory, production and injection wells.
• Production engineers, including subsurface engineers, manage the interface between the reservoir and the well, including perforations, sand control, downhole flow control, and downhole monitoring equipment; evaluate artificial lift methods; and also select surface equipment that separates the produced fluids (oil, natural gas, and water).
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| For Course details and Fee structure click here |
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