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Nuclear

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jerry1423

jerry1423

Mechanical
Aug 19, 2005
3,428
If I was younger and contemplating what career direction to take I would consider nuclear engineering.
After the windmills are built and the solar panels are installed we are going to need to build something to supply us with constant energy.
Since very few people of this generation entered this field there will be a high demand for them in the coming years. It may be 10 years in the future, but it will come.
 
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In the UK it's starting already, but they are being very fussy about who they take on. If you have appropriate skills but in aerospace not nuclear there currently seems to be something of a barrier. On the other hand I think they are having trouble filling certain jobs. It will be interesting to see how it pans out now that most of the old boys have retired.
 
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You could always try the US Navy for a few years??!!

You will get all the experience you want..
 
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I'll second the U.S. Navy program. It's where I started 20 years ago. The experience still provides me with an edge.

The most important aspect of any power energy field is a solid foundation in the understanding of energy (= thermodynamics). Get this down cold, and you will be a tiger in any field you want to enter.
 
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I strongly agree with the Navy, but some people (like me) have medical restrictions that are prevented from going that route.
 
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Too bad. In any case, I stand by my recommendation of getting a strong foundation of the essentials, regardless of the particulars of what field catches your fancy.

Anyone who enters a program saying "Make me into a solar/wind/nuclear engineer" is likely looking through too narrow a lens, and will be less prepared to take on the unforseen.
 
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I finished Navy Nuc School in 1972. There is a huge percentage of stuff I learned there that I still use. The thermo was so much more useful that the 6 hours of thermo I took in graduate school.

I got out of the industry in 1977 and never regretted the decision--the last 36 years have seen almost no new plants and the closing of a few plants. In the '70s I saw the wrong side of too many picket lines as the Greenies saw Nuclear Power as the embodiment of evil. It is funny to see the enviromental web sites pointing to Nuclear Power as a green alternative to Coal or Oil & Gas.

It is probably a great industry to be getting into, but my guess is that they'll ramp up way too quickly and make a bunch of bonehead design errors. I guess the next generation will be busy fixing them.

David
 
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In my opinion and prediction I feel nuclear power for the masses will fall to the wayside. Not until we figure out what to do with the nuclear waste, I don’t think it is a viable option. Also, the Chenobyal melt down and the disaster at 3 Mile Island left a bad taste with the public. Has the USA even built a new nuclear plant in the past few years? So Nuclear Engineering may be a good option to maintain the existing plants, but not for future work to create new nuclear plants (well in the USA).

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
 
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I laughed when I saw a green commercial using nuclear plants as a source of pollution. The open seen was with two cooling towers bellowing steam into the atmosphere and a narrator explaining that we should find alternative power sources so we can stop pollutions like this.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
 
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Twoballcane, you must have missed the arguments about water vapor being a major green house gas.

Terrible stuff that gaseous dihydrogen monoxide.


I've seen a number of articles about nuke picking up again, I'm still a bit sceptical but you never know.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:
 
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Thanks Kenat, I stand corrected.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
 
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"Three Mile Island Disaster"????????? No one was hurt. No radiation was released to the atmosphere. All of the safety shut downs worked as designed. Where was the "disaster"? Oh yeah, the media pandering to an environmental lobby that hated Nuclear Power.

Chernobyl was a different story. Start with a horrible design, eliminate operator training, then stop paying the operators for months on end--the result really was a disaster.

The spent fuel problem is only still a problem because there hasn't been enough work done to turn it from a liability to an asset. If the industry starts growing again, I will be shocked if there isn't a re-processing option to take the incredibly rare elements/isotopes that make up that "waste" and put it to profitable uses.

David
 
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Didn't the UK set up a reprocessing facility only to have it more or less go unused. I can't recall the details now.

KENAT,

Have you reminded yourself of faq731-376 recently, or taken a look at posting policies:
 
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owg: correction- we now have a landfill for Toronto's garbage near London, Ontario- no thanks to the Ontario government I might add- the Toronto council had to go out and BUY an existing landfill because a previous Ontario government spent $100 million on the Ontario Interim Waste Authority to NOT site a landfill in metro Toronto...

Your point about the NIMBYism in relation to waste of all kinds, but nuclear waste in particular, is absolutely correct. So instead of finding a safe underground repository for it, we continue to store it at the plants themselves- right next to major population centres. What the NIMBYs forget is that the "do nothing" alternative ALWAYS comes with a risk too...

As to a career in nuclear: guaranteed there will be some new nukers built. But this is a pidgeon-hole industry like no other- fickle and subject to the whims of politicians. It's the very LAST thing I'd personally want to specialize in. When one's out of work, they all are...
 
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Even if you are not eligible to serve in the navy, there may be opportunities to work for them as a civilian. You would need a degree.
 
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Yes I agree there were no “nuclear disaster”, however, the fall out from this accident did hurt the surrounding communities in terms of real estate price dropping and businesses leaving. Because of this, it left a bad taste in many Americans. If anybody wants to build a Nuclear Plant, I am sure the phrase “not in my backyard” will take on new meaning. Also, nothing is bullet proof. It is not “if”, but “when” a nuclear disaster will happen in the USA. Many of the nuclear plants are many years old; it is all just a matter of frequency to failure.

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."
 
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If you look at the other side of the coin from power generation there is a growing business in decommissioning. The IMechE did an article about a year (or so) ago about the cost of decommissioning being about £2bn per plant...several hundred plants needing decommissioning - voila good jobs for the next 50-100 years! Skill sets very similar to those for operating plants - safety managment, hazard analysis, health physics, maintenance, construction + demolition etc.

New build in the UK will eventually happen but the going is very slow. I believe that the USA has 17 licence applications for new build so maybe you guys will see it before us. EdF has just bought British Energy (presumably as a precursor to new build since the most obvious location for new build is on existing licenced sites...)

Yours optimistically, HM



No more things should be presumed to exist than are absolutely necessary - William of Occam
 
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With the new US administration announcing surprisingly conservative appointments (at least middle of the road) in key positions, nuclear may get the continued boost it needs. And there may no other viable option if the promise of shutting down the coal industry is kept.
 
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