MEC6422   Nuclear Thermal Hydraulics and Heat Transfer   (10 credits)

Description

Nuclear power is a major industry in the UK, producing about 20% of the country's electricity, and plans for new build are well underway. Thermal hydraulics is fundamental in extracting energy from nuclear fuels and converting it to electricity. This module is to study the thermal design fundamentals of nuclear power plants enabling the students to develop (i) a good understanding of the cooling and energy transfer phenomena in nuclear reactor cores and (ii) the ability to perform analysis for flow and heat transfer for the design and safety calculations of such systems. Following an introduction to nuclear energy and power generation systems and principles, the thermal design principles and heat generation mechanisms in the reactor will be discussed. This is followed by studies of the phenomena and design/analysis methodologies of heat transfer in the fuel elements, reactor cooling to single-phase flow (in a gas-cooled reactor) and two-phase flow (in a water-cooled reactor). The course will conclude by discussing the system approaches of core thermal hydraulic analysis used in the nuclear industry and examples of CFD analysis.

Reading List