Thank you in advance for your input and insights!

[ameliatqy]

Future of Nuclear Science??

Dear all,

I would just like to ask about the prospects of nuclear science (nuclear engineering/research) in the future. Will it become a big thing due to the world's need for energy or fade out due to its dangerous properties and threat to the environment (e.g. Disaster at Fukishima). Or any other reasons?

Any help or feedback will be greatly appreciated!

 

[chiro]

Dear all,

I would just like to ask about the prospects of nuclear science (nuclear engineering/research) in the future. Will it become a big thing due to the world's need for energy or fade out due to its dangerous properties and threat to the environment (e.g. Disaster at Fukishima). Or any other reasons?

Any help or feedback will be greatly appreciated!

One thing you should be aware is that nuclear science is not just used for nuclear energy.

It is also used for medical purposes as well as research purposes (like at places like CERN for example) as well as for other purposes on top of these.

 

[Useful nucleus]

The traditional nuclear engineering consists of the engineering of fission reactors and fusion reactors. The near future of those two is country dependent. So, for example if you are in Germany or Japan most likely there is no future. If you are in France , you are in a good shape as a nuclear engineer.

One good thing about nuclear engineering is that many aspects of it are inter-discplinary. So even if there is no great future for the nuclear energy, it may still be ok to have it as a career. Examples include , specializing in materials science, thermal-hydraulics, radiation applications and detection. These are really interdisclinary fields and have applications in nuclear engineering and many many other fields.

My advice to you, specially if you live in country which has opposition to nuclear energy, is to to choose an inter-disciplinary topic as your career.

And CERN related research is not nuclear engineering! I say this because many physics enthusiatics join nuclear engineering departments hoping to learn about Quantum Mechanics and Particle Physics and then get disappointed when they are faced with the truth. While it is true as a nuclear engineer you need to have backgorund about these fancy areas, but these are never the expertise of a nuclear engineer.

 

[ameliatqy]

And CERN related research is not nuclear engineering! I say this because many physics enthusiatics join nuclear engineering departments hoping to learn about Quantum Mechanics and Particle Physics and then get disappointed when they are faced with the truth. While it is true as a nuclear engineer you need to have backgorund about these fancy areas, but these are never the expertise of a nuclear engineer.

Just to clarify...this would be the job of a nuclear physicist, right? I thought it was nuclear researcher but I found no results on it...

 

[Useful nucleus]

Just to clarify...this would be the job of a nuclear physicist, right? I thought it was nuclear researcher but I found no results on it...

Yes, this is mainly (nuclear, particle, QCD,...) physicist research.

 

[carlgrace]

And CERN related research is not nuclear engineering! I say this because many physics enthusiatics join nuclear engineering departments hoping to learn about Quantum Mechanics and Particle Physics and then get disappointed when they are faced with the truth. While it is true as a nuclear engineer you need to have backgorund about these fancy areas, but these are never the expertise of a nuclear engineer.

Not quite true, Useful Nucleus. CERN is primarily known for particle physics of course but it has a strong history of nuclear science research too. They are active in emerging nuclear science experiments such as high-pressure Xenon dark energy searches, and double beta decay experiments.

There is quite a lot of overlap between particle physics and nuclear science. And Quantum Mechanics is the very foundation of nuclear science. If you study Nuclear Engineering, you will study quantum mechanics. You won't do research on quantum mechanics, but you will use it as one of your core tools.

 

[Locrian]

And CERN related research is not nuclear engineering!

Who said it was? The thread title does not say "engineering". . .

 

[Thermalne]

I'm currently getting my degree in nuclear engineering and I feel it has a future. It has the opportunity to become one of the world's most widely used energy resource and is quickly becoming important in many countries. I would encourage anyone interested in this field to look at the following sites for more information:

http://www.world-nuclear.org/

and

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/