Building models to test theories and develop new ideas is fairly common in technical education programs at college. Designing and constructing a simulated nuclear reactor cooling system is a whole different level of modeling.
That is what Jennifer Allsop and Andrew Fluck did this fall while studying thermodynamics in thenuclear engineering technology (NET) program at Montgomery County Community College (MCCC) in Pennsylvania. The project was part of a course requirement to design an experiment that demonstrates previously studied theories and concepts.
Regional consortia leverage nuclear career opportunities
“Since there are many different approaches to the solution of these problems, students are encouraged to find different paths,” said Saundra Weikel, a NET adjunct instructor at the college.
Allsop and Fluck started their project by sketching it out on paper and then transferred those designs into Solid Works—a CAD-like software program that students learn to use earlier in the NET curriculum.
“Our simulated reactor is a modern design like the ones being built now, after lessons learned from Japan,” said Fluck, who will graduate in May. “The design uses natural cooling, gravity, evaporation and natural draft, none of which require power.”
Hands-on testing
Design and development of the five cooling towers took about eight weeks, followed by full-scale testing and troubleshooting for the rest of the semester.
“We need to understand how the system works from the ground up,” said Allsop, who graduated in December. “In the field, if something goes wrong, we need to pinpoint what’s happening and address the problem.”
The simulated reactor will be used in future NET lab experiments and exercises, accompanied by a how-to manual written by Allsop and Fluck.
“As part of the DOE (design of experiment) process, students must write a detailed paper describing their design and construction of the system, and they must collect data using the system, ensuring that any data collected supports the theories studied,” said Weikel, who spent much of her career working as a nuclear engineer at the Limerick Generating Station.
Meeting an industry demand
The NET program follows the Nuclear Energy Institute’s uniform curriculum to ensure that students meet core competencies and are prepared to work in the nuclear industry after they graduate.
Nuclear tech in demand despite concerns with industry
MCCC started its NET program in 2009 in response to an anticipated shortage of nuclear technicians in the region over the next decade. That shortage, coupled with the U.S. Department of Energy’s estimate of a 20 percent increase in the use of electricity by 2030, makes the nuclear engineering industry an attractive option for today’s students.
“Nuclear engineering is something I was always interested in, but I didn’t know how to get there,” said Fluck, who was enrolled as a part-time engineering student at the time that MCCC started the NET program.
Allsop followed a different path to the program. She was laid off from her job, which prompted her to return to college and enroll in the NET program.
“It sounds like a challenging position to have and something that I think I will really enjoy,” she said about her future work in the nuclear industry.