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Jun 04, 2026
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NE 545 - Nuclear Fuel Performance Modeling3 Credit Hours
The environment experienced by fuel within a nuclear fission reactor is among the most extreme encountered by any functioning materials system. Fission processes in the uranium or plutonium fuel can generate high temperatures (and corresponding large thermal gradients) and produce high fluxes of energetic neutrons. Further, the fission process transforms the chemistry of the fuel, since each fissile nucleus that fissions produces two (or three) new elements from a broad range of the periodic table. The physics and chemistry of the myriad of fission product elements varies, which consequently impacts the properties that govern fuel performance. Outside of the fuel, the cladding is often exposed to a highly corrosive environment, in addition to numerous mechanical and chemical interaction forces as it serves as the first engineered barrier against the release of radioactive fission products.
(RE) Prerequisite(s): NE 520 or NE 440
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