Nuclear Engineering at South Dakota State University
Approved, October 14, 2009!
Starting in Fall 2010, SDSU will offer a Minor in Nuclear Engineering to enhance degrees in Physics, Engineering Physics, and Mechanical Engineering. We intend to add Electrical Engineering to the Minor.
Why study Nuclear Engineering?
Participating Departments at SDSU
The minor in nuclear engineering at SDSU endeavors to supply nuclear-savvy engineers for the nuclear power industry.
Most engineers at a nuclear power plant are not nuclear engineers, but they need to have a background in how nuclear power works, the effects of radiation on matter and people, and have useful knowledge in day-to-day operations.
Other interests in nuclear science such as health and medical physics, engineering for physics experiments at DUSEL, food irradiation, etc. can also be supported within the minor.
Why study Nuclear Engineering?
Nuclear Energy is a safe, secure, carbon-free source of electrical power that can address global warming while reducing our dependence upon foreign sources of energy. We may require 40% more electricity by the year 2030, and this will only increase if everybody uses cars that run on either hydrogen or electricity. Furthermore, the current workforce is retiring while new power plants are being built: More than 90,000 engineers will be needed in the next 10 years domestically.
Today, there are five nuclear power plants in proximity to SDSU. These include the Monticello and Prairie Island plants run by Xcel Energy in Minnesota, the Cooper and Fort Calhoun plants run by NPPD in Nebraska, and the Duane Arnold Energy Center in Iowa run by Florida Power and Light.
New cutting-edge research into nuclear power and nuclear science occurs at the nation's national laboratories, such as Argonne National Laboratory, DUSEL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
In addition to reliable electrical power, nuclear science has many other proven benefits. Radioisotopes are important in medical imaging, and they are used in industry and agriculture as tracers. Nuclear counting techniques are important to characterize materials and archaeological samples, assess the isotopic content in biomedical and environmental samples, and contribute to nuclear forensics for homeland security. Food irradiation kills harmful bacteria such as E Coli. Radiation therapy kills cancer cells.
Heat from nuclear energy can be used to desalinate water, and nuclear energy can also be used to produce hydrogen for fuel cells. Particle accelerators not only produce the exotic particles found in high energy physics or the particle beams for radiation therapy, they may also be used to transmute long-lived isotopes and reduce the amount of spent fuel that needs to be stored on the surface or in geologic repositories.
Minor in Nuclear Engineering 1, 2
| Required (12 hours) | Electives (6 hours) |
| PHYS 331: Modern Physics | ME 341: Metallurgy |
| PHYS 337: Foundations of Health Physics | ME 410: Principles of HVAC Engineering |
| PHYS 435: Introduction to Nuclear Engineering | ME 413: Turbomachinery |
| ME / PHYS 494: Internship in Nuclear Engineering 3 | ME 418: Design of Thermal Systems |
| ME 437: Gas Dynamics I | |
| ME 439: HVAC Design | |
| ME 492: Special Topics - Non-Destructive Evaluation and Testing | |
| ME/PHYS 498: Undergraduate Scholarship/Research | |
| PHYS 418: Nuclear Laboratory | |
| PHYS 433: Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics |
1 Selected classes in Electrical Engineering are being considered as future
electives for the minor.
2 Classes taken before Fall 2010 can count towards the minor, but the minor
cannot be granted until Fall 2010.
3 The internship requirement may be met by ME/PHYS 498 under certain
circumstances.
Internships available