Fundamentals of Nuclear Power Generation

By Prof. Dipankar N.Basu | IIT Guwahati

Learners enrolled: 320

The depleting stock of fossil fuels and global concern over the preservation of environment has projected nuclear energy as a very relevant option, particularly considering the near-zero emission and huge resource availability. From technological point of view, nuclear power production is quite different from the conventional thermal plants and therefore it is the need of the hour to grasp the essentials at an early level. Present course introduces the students to the fundaments of nuclear power generation. Starting from the atomic structure, students will be gradually familiarized with different concepts, finally leading to the design of different reactors. Important topics such as nuclear waste management, biological impact of radiation and safety issues pertinent to handling nuclear fuels will also be discussed.

INTENDED AUDIENCE : Undergraduate students of Mechanical/Power/Energy Engg. (5th semester onwards) and postgraduate students specializing in the thermofluids/energy/nuclear engg; industry personnel associated with nuclear/power industries; faculty members associated with Power/Energy engg.

PREREQUISITE : Basic UG-level Heat Transfer & Fluid Mechanics.

INDUSTRY SUPPORT : Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL), National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), General Electric India, Any company associated with design & fabrication of components/accessories of nuclear reactor.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Duration :	12 weeks
Start Date :	24 Jan 2022
End Date :	15 Apr 2022
Exam Date :	24 Apr 2022 IST
Category :	Mechanical Engineering
Credit Points :	3
Level :	Undergraduate/Postgraduate

Course layout

Week - 1: Fundamentals of Nuclear Power

Week - 2: Radioactivity & Nuclear reactions

Week - 3: Nuclear Fission

Week - 4: Chain Reaction in Reactors

Week - 5: Reactor Thermalhydraulics

Week - 6: Reactor Control

Week - 7: Thermal Reactors

Week - 8: Breeder Reactors

Week - 9: Nuclear Fusion

Week - 10: Biological Effects of Radiation

Week - 11: Reactor Safety and Security

Week - 12: Waste Management and Economics

Books and references

Raymond L. Murray, Nuclear Energy: An Introduction to the Concepts, Systems, and Applications of Nuclear Processes, 6th edition, Elsevier, Burlington, 2009.
P.K. Nag, Power Plant Engineering, 3rd edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd., New Delhi, 2008.
M.M. El-Wakil, Power Plant Technology, McGraw-Hill International Editions, Singapore, 1984.
A.W. Culp Jr., Principles of Energy Conversion, 2nd edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing Company Ltd., New Delhi, 2000.

Instructor bio

Prof. Dipankar N.Basu

IIT Guwahati

Dr. Dipankar N. Basu is an Associate Professor in the department of Mechanical Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati since June 2012. He received his undergraduate and postgraduate degree from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, and completed his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur in 2011. He served as an Assistant Professor at IIEST Shibpur for nearly four years before joining IIT Guwahati. His principal research interest is in the field of nuclear thermalhydraulics, two-phase flow, supercritical heat transfer, optimization of thermal systems and microchannel heat transfer. He is currently working on computational tool development for simulation of flows with free-surfaces. He has co-authored more than 65 referred journal and conference publications and also a book chapter on supercritical natural circulation loop. He is a regular reviewer of many reputed international journals and also associated with several sponsored projects.

Course certificate

The course is free to enroll and learn from. But if you want a certificate, you have to register and write the proctored exam conducted by us in person at any of the designated exam centres.
The exam is optional for a fee of Rs 1000/- (Rupees one thousand only).
Date and Time of Exams: 24 April 2022 Morning session 9am to 12 noon; Afternoon Session 2pm to 5pm.
Registration url: Announcements will be made when the registration form is open for registrations.
The online registration form has to be filled and the certification exam fee needs to be paid. More details will be made available when the exam registration form is published. If there are any changes, it will be mentioned then.
Please check the form for more details on the cities where the exams will be held, the conditions you agree to when you fill the form etc.

CRITERIA TO GET A CERTIFICATE

Average assignment score = 25% of average of best 8 assignments out of the total 12 assignments given in the course.
Exam score = 75% of the proctored certification exam score out of 100

Final score = Average assignment score + Exam score

YOU WILL BE ELIGIBLE FOR A CERTIFICATE ONLY IF AVERAGE ASSIGNMENT SCORE >=10/25 AND EXAM SCORE >= 30/75. If one of the 2 criteria is not met, you will not get the certificate even if the Final score >= 40/100.

Certificate will have your name, photograph and the score in the final exam with the breakup.It will have the logos of NPTEL and IIT Guwahati .It will be e-verifiable at nptel.ac.in/noc.

Only the e-certificate will be made available. Hard copies will not be dispatched.

Once again, thanks for your interest in our online courses and certification. Happy learning.

- NPTEL team

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