Educating Next Generation Nuclear Criticality Safety Engineers at the Idaho National Laboratory
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- USDOE Idaho Operations Office (IO), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
One of the challenges in educating our next generation of nuclear safety engineers is the limitation of opportunities to receive significant experience or hands-on training prior to graduation. Such training is generally restricted to on-the-job-training before this new engineering workforce can adequately provide assessment of nuclear systems and establish safety guidelines. Participation in the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project (ICSBEP) and the International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project (IRPhEP) can provide students and young professionals the opportunity to gain experience and enhance critical engineering skills. The ICSBEP and IRPhEP publish annual handbooks that contain evaluations of experiments along with summarized experimental data and peer-reviewed benchmark specifications to support the validation of neutronics codes, nuclear cross-section data, and the validation of reactor designs. Participation in the benchmark process not only benefits those who use these Handbooks within the international community, but provides the individual with opportunities for professional development, networking with an international community of experts, and valuable experience to be used in future employment. Traditionally students have participated in benchmarking activities via internships at national laboratories, universities, or companies involved with the ICSBEP and IRPhEP programs. Additional programs have been developed to facilitate the nuclear education of students while participating in the benchmark projects. These programs include coordination with the Center for Space Nuclear Research (CSNR) Next Degree Program, the Collaboration with the Department of Energy Idaho Operations Office to train nuclear and criticality safety engineers, and student evaluations as the basis for their master's thesis in nuclear engineering.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States); USDOE Idaho Operations Office (IO), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1031655
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-11-20791; TRN: US1200146
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICNC '11: 9. International Conference on Nuclear Criticality, Professional Development Issues, Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom), 19-22 Sep 2011; Related Information: https://www.oecd-nea.org/science/meetings/ICNC2011/programme.html
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Growth and Expansion of the International Criticality Safety Benchmark Evaluation Project and the Newly Organized International Reactor Physics Experiment Evaluation Project
Additions to the ICSBEP and IRPHEP handbooks since NCSD 2013
Related Subjects
96 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND PRESERVATION
97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING
BENCHMARKS
CRITICALITY
EDUCATION
EMPLOYMENT
ENGINEERS
EVALUATION
INEEL
NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
RADIATION PROTECTION
REACTOR PHYSICS
RECOMMENDATIONS
SAFETY
SPECIFICATIONS
TRAINING
VALIDATION
Nuclear Criticality Safety Program (NCSP)
Benchmarking
Criticality Safety
Education
ICSBEP
IRPhEP
Training