File:Computational_engineering_icon_2.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
In the Vinony graph
Vinony's link graph records 734 inbound references to nuclear engineering, and connects out to neutron temperature, Chernobyl disaster and nuclear fusion.
It sits within the topics Engineering, Engineering disciplines and Nuclear engineers.
Vinony links it to 40 Wikipedia language editions.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- branch of engineering
- Subclass of
- engineering
- Image
- RTG radiation measurement.jpg
Show 2 more facts
- Stack Exchange tag
- physics.stackexchange.com/tags/nuclear-engineering
- on focus list of Wikimedia project
- Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4
via Wikidata · CC0
~9 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Nuclear engineering is the engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes. The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide, some 439 nuclear reactors in 31 countries generate 10 percent of the world's energy through nuclear fission. In the future, it is expected that nuclear fusion will add another nuclear means of generating energy. Both reactions make use of the nuclear binding energy released when atomic nucleons are either separated (fission) or brought together (fusion). The energy available is given by the binding energy curve, and the amount generated is much greater than that generated through chemical reactions. Fission of 1 gram of uranium yields as much energy as burning 3 tons of coal or 600 gallons of fuel oil, without adding carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
History
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “nuclear engineering” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.