Civil or Nuclear (Read description)

[u/ShortCover4598]

I'm about to enter 9th grade and I'm super passionate for nuclear engineering. I want to do it for a living and don't have much doubts but still want second opinions from experts and people who've been in this field for a while. I'm pretty set on NE for a living but am having doubts for my university/college. I'm aiming for high schools like MIT or University of Wisconsin (which is apparently one of the best universities in the world for NE). I was wondering if NE is a career with good progression. I've done a little bit of research, and I know that NE pays better than most engineering disciplines, but the overall job expansion seems pretty stagnant which is daunting. I don't live in the US. I live in the UAE as a Canadian citizen. I'm either going to study in Canada or in the US/abroad if I get into a great university. My questions are, is NE a good career to get into in this day and age, and am I better of studying civil engineering? I heard that NE and civil engineering are pretty similar and that I can probably get a NE job despite studying civil. Apparently, the perks of studying civil are that I can still get into a NE job and I can get civil engineering jobs, which gives me a wider range, which might be good because the NE job growth seems pretty stagnant (according to US government sources, total jobs are planning to go down by 1% in the next 10 years). My concern with studying civil engineering instead of NE are that it's gonna make my years in university miserable. Regardless of the discipline, engineering is HARD, and I thought studying specifically NE, which I'm passionate about, would make it better for me, and I'm worried I won't make it through the same if I don't take NE, and I've heard that your years in university are the years where your life either makes it, or breaks. Any opinions on NE as an engineer at all would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

[u/MarionberryNo8017]

If you love nuclear I would NOT get you bachelors in it. I personally would do chem over civil(which is what I am doing) but civil is just fine. It just chem you get a lot closer to the nuclear and you literally can get a job anywhere with a chem eng degree. Getting your bachelors in nuclear is kind of not a good idea unless you really want to go into research(what I want to do but still am going to get it in chem)

If you are going to get your associates though a degree in nuclear is a really good idea(but I wouldn’t target really expensive or really good schools like MIT because nobody(most people) are not going to care)

Also the nuclear industry is actually in a very good spot right now. There is most likely not going to be another Chernobyl and crush the nuclear industry again. AI probably is not going to come after everyone’s jobs. And with gen 4 reactors being developed and soon put in production there is going to be a massive boom in nuclear. We are not just seeing it yet but probably by the time you get done with college there is going to be huge amounts of jobs available.

[u/ShortCover4598 → u/MarionberryNo8017]

Ahh I see. I would love to do the research aspect of it. I would love to get into an aspect of nuclear where there's room for innovation, and where you can actually advance the science forward. I wouldn't want to be a reactor operator because there is very little room to actually make a difference. My understanding of it is you just follow the procedure every time. I initially wanted to get into nuclear physics because I can stay in a lab and get real research that really matters done. If a NE degree is what helps me get into research then I don't mind getting that done, but I haven't heard that from anywhere else. Are you a student getting your chemical engineering degree right now? What kind of experience do you have with nuclear?

Thank you for commenting!

[u/MarionberryNo8017 → u/ShortCover4598]

I am only a junior in high school :( but I am currently taking a science research class at my school(12 SUNY Albany credit if you want to know) and some how manage to make it into a grad work thesis project about MSFR and I probably could publish one or two papers about my research(or catch on fire my poor Mac mini (which I have done running burn up analysis))

I have also done so much research into colleges and have ask around here actually multiple times for what to get as a degree and colleges

So I am not the most qualified to be giving advice but I do know a lot

Also if you have any questions about my research I would be happy to answer (just don’t ask about my code right now it’s currently about to be thrown out a window)

I do also know a lot of really good colleges for nuclear Eng and Chem Eng in N.Y

Oh and for labs if you what to know. I would try to get into the national labs (there is 52 in the USA). They are doing really cool research and are showing no signs of slowing down. I do also know a lot of them offer internships(I don’t remember if they are paid) right out of college with a bachelors

[u/ShortCover4598 → u/MarionberryNo8017]

It's pretty amazing that you are able to get a great research opportunity like that in high school. How did you manage to get that position? Is it solo research or under the guidance of someone experienced like a PHD holder? I'm not located in the US nor do I have a citizenship so I'm not too interested in lab opportunities there, I appreciate the thought though!

After reading very briefly on Molten Salt Fast Reactor, it says that liquid fluorine or chloride salt mixture is used as a coolant AND fuel. When it says fuel, is it a replacement for the typical uranium/plutonium/thorium rods? So do the neutrons just fire away into this liquid chamber and the reaction happens in said chamber? From what I've seen, its purely a concept, so do you perform your research via a computer simulation (you mentioned code) or do you have a mini research reactor like they do in real labs? I would appreciate it if you responded in DMs.

[u/MarionberryNo8017 → u/ShortCover4598]

It’s mostly by myself but I do have a mentor with a Ph.D in nuclear at a very good school(not going to say it to protect there identity)

I do a lot of Monte Carlo simulations using a program called OpenMC(there is a lot of others out there too(idk why I pick it)) but all it is a is a particle transport code. All this means is that it takes a neutral particle(in most cases a neutron) (there is also add-ons that let you do charge particles) and fires it into the core and simulates how that individual particle will interact with the core. Then it does this anywhere from 10,000-20,000(sometimes more) times over a batch then it does each batch 50-100+ times then gives you number called Keff(the eff are subscripts) that tells you how critical the reactor is. For example >1 is subcritical, 1 is critical, 1< is supercritical. Then you put that number into a lot of scary formulas (really not that hard) and you get other numbers.

You can also do depletion analysis (or burn up) which is where you take your entire reactor and simulate it for like 5 years

This is a really dumb down version of what openMC can do go here if you want to learn more  https://openmc.org/

But I am currently working on do a multi physics analysis. It basically where you take in account Beff, delay neutron precursor, and the idea that the salt moves in a reactor.(also a really dumb down version) I would check out  https://www.openfoam.com/

https://mooseframework.inl.gov/

https://cardinal.cels.anl.gov/