NUCLEAR ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY

PROGRAM (Inter-Disciplinary Programme)

PROFESSORS PROGRAMME COMMITTEE :
Kalra MS msk 7527 M.S. Kalra (ME) msk 7527

Munshi P pmunshi 7243 P. Munshi (ME) pmunshi 7243

Vyas NS vyas 7040 A. Sengupta (ME/NET ) osegu 7035

(Head)
S. Qureshi (EE) qureshi 7339
Qureshi S qureshi 7339
K. Muralidhar kmurli 7775
Emeritus Fellow

Sengupta A osegu 7035

Convenor, DUGC : P. Munshi (ME) pmunshi 7243

Convenor, DPGC : P. Munshi (ME) pmunshi 7243

Faculty Counsellor:

E-mails : pmunshi@iitk.ac.in Tel Nos : +91-512-259 7243

In view of the rapidly expanding nuclear energy programme in India and the growing need for qualified
engineers, an inter-disciplinary postgraduate programme in Nuclear Engineering and Technology leading
to the M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees was initiated in July 1974. Admission requirement for the M.Tech.
programme is either a Bachelor’s degree in any branch of engineering or a Master ‘s in Physics.
Laboratories for research and teaching in Nuclear Engineering include the facilities of the central
nuclear physics laboratory, a 5 Curie Pu-Be neutron source, data processing equipment, various
types of radiation detecting and counting equipment. Other relevant Institute facilities such as digital
computers, material science laboratory and electronics laboratory are also available. Potential areas
of research are: Nuclear reactor, transport theory, theory of kinetic equations, plasma physics, safety
and controls, computerized tomography, solitons, reliability engineering, two phase flow, radiation
physics, radiation detection and instrumentation.
The course work consists of a set of required subjects covering the basic concepts of nuclear science
and engineering, experimental techniques and a set of electives that may be taken from within or
outside of the Programme. A brief description of these courses is given below :

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 STRUCTURE OF THE PROGRAM

Compulsory Elective
Courses Courses

NT 601 NT 612
NT 602 NT 615
NT 611 NT 631
NT 621 NT 632
NT 614 NT 633
NT 699 NT 634
NT 799 NT 641
NT 642
NT 651
NT 652
NT 698

NT 601 or (ME 681) Mathematical methods NT 602 Nuclear and Reactor Physics
NT 611 Nuclear Power Engineering I NT 621 Nuclear Measurements Lab.
NT 614 Nuclear Power Engineering II NT 699 Thesis research
799
NT 612 Reactor Physics NT 615 Nuclear Power Engineering III
NT 631 Neutron Transport Theory NT 632 Radioisotope Application in Engineering
NT 633 Nuclear Fusion NT 634 Nuclear Reactions & Interaction of
Radiation with Matter
NT 641 Introduction to Computerized Tomography NT 642 Nondestructive Evaluation
NT 651 Fast Reactor Technology NT 652 Nuclear Fuel Cycle
NT 698 Special Topics (Reliability Engineering, Theory of Kinetic Equations,
Introduction to Fully Ionized Plasmas)
Electives (Outside Department)
Numerical Methods for Engineers (ME)
Numerical Analysis (Maths)
Nuclear Materials (Met)
Optimal Control Theory (EE)
Nuclear Reactions (Phy)
Electronics (Phy)

Students are expected to have an adequate background in Mathematics, Nuclear Physics and Heat
Transfer.
In order to meet the degree requirements, students will have to take additional courses. The purpose
of the additional courses is to gain knowledge in a particular area which will facilitate research work
in that area of specialization. Some of these courses are given below :

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NT 612 REACTOR PHYSICS
L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Neutron transport equation and its approximate methods of solution: spherical
harmonics and discrete ordinates methods. Diffusion equation and criticality
studies, numerical criticality search. Energy dependent diffusion equation, multi-
group method. Two group analysis, criticality equation, Collapsing of groups.
Slowing down equation and its solution by the step-by -step methods exact and
approximate. Methods of solution.approximate methods. Variational calculus,
Euler-Lagrange equation and Raleigh Ritz method. Optimization methods.
Analytic functions, conformal mappings. Cartesian tensors, order, transformation
rules, calculus. Nonliear maps, local inverse and implicit function theorem.
Bifurcation and Liapunov-Schmidt reduction.

NT 602 NUCLEAR AND REACTOR PHYSICS

L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Introduction to quantum mechanics, Schrodinger equation and its solution by
separation of variables. Potential well, quantum states. Nuclear charge, radius
and mass. Binding energy. Nuclear forces and the deuteron problem. Semiempirical
mass formula. Energetics of nuclear stability. Reaction channels, Compound
nucleus. Energy dependence of neutron cross sections and Brecit-wigner formula.
The fission process.

Neutron diffusion theory showing down length. Critical mass and size. Numerical
criticality search. Four-factor formula. Energy dependent diffusion. Multigroup
diffusion, group constants and matrix formulation. Two-group analysis. Age
theory. Slowing down theory.

NT 611 NUCLEAR POWER ENGINEERING I

L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Types of nuclear reactors. Heat generation in fuel elements and temperature
distributions. Heat removal, Reactor coolants. Single phase and two phase heat
transfer. Boiling and flow regimes. Heat transfer and fluid flow correlations.
Pressure drops due to friction and pumping power. Reactor core

NT 601 MATHEMATICAL METHODS

L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Sets, relations, mappings and inverses. Systems of linear equations. Vector
space, subspace, basis, null and range space, invertibility and matrix representation.
Echelon form, Fredholm Alternative and orthogonalization. Eigenvalues and
eigenfunctions. First and second order ODE. Laplace and Fourier methods; series
solution and orthogonal polynomials. Sturn Lioville problem. Classification of
PDEs. Solution in finite and semi-infinite media. Fredholm and Volterra integral
equations. Iterative and thermal hydraulic analysis. Hot spot factors.

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NT 614 NUCLEAR POWER ENGINEERING II Prereq. NT 611
L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Introduction to control theory. Point reactor kinetics with introduction to feedback
effects. Non-linear effects. Shielding. Introduction to reactor reliability and
safety analysis. Radioactive waste disposal. Economics of nuclear power. Introduction
to nuclear fuel cycles.

NT 615 NUCLEAR POWER ENGINEERING III

Health Physics: introduction, radiation protection, regulatory aspects, radiation

biology, operational radiation protection, radiation protection monitoring.
Process Instrumentation and Control: basic concepts, sensing and transmission/
receiving of temperature, flow, liquid level, pressure, force, viscousity, humidity.
Nuclear Materials: fabrication and properties of zircaloy, metallic fuels, ceramic
fuels, applications.
Nuclear Chemistry: role of chemistry in nuclear engineering, chemical processes
in the nuclear fuel cycle, production of uranium, plutonium, thorium, heavy water,
water treatment, corrosion, decontamination.

NT 621 NUCLEAR MEASUREMENTS LABORATORY

L-T-P-D-[C]
1-0-6-0-[4] Biological effects of radiation; Radiation monitoring; G-M Counter characteristics,
counting statistics. Scintillation detectors and gamma spectrometry. Multi-
channel analysis. Semiconductor detectors for alpha and gamma spectrometry.
Coincidence measurements. BF 3 counters. Foil Activation. Cadmium ratio
measurements. Neutron diffusion length and age measurements. Experiments
using Van de Graaff. Radioisotope applications, Computer simulation studies.

NT 631 NEUTRON TRANSPORT THEORY

L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Neutron transport equation and its derivation. Case’s singular eigen function
method for the 1 speed transport equation. Spherical harmonics approximation:
diffusion and higher order PN approximations and their relation to Case’s method.
TPN and FN approximations. The neutron slowing down equation: its analysis
as a differential- difference equation. Exact and approximate solution and their
inter-relationship. Energy dependent spatial neutron transport.

NT 632 RADIOISOTOPE APPLICATION IN ENGINEERING

L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Nuclear detectors. Counting statistics. Radiation safety. Radiotracer principles.
Flow measurements. Applications in analysis. Process studies. Wear measurements
and other production engineering applications. Selected examples of Industrial
radiotracer applications.

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 Radiogauging principles, Alpha particle gauges based on transmissions. Scattering
and ionization effects. Beta transmission gauges for measurements of sheets
thickness, density and composition analysis. X-ray fluorescence principles.
Neutron gauges. Well logging. Gamma and neutron radiography. Radioisotope
power packs. High level radio-isotope applications including radiation therapy
sterilization plants, radiation processing and food irradiation.

NT 633 NUCLEAR FUSION

L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Basic physics of fusion reactions, thermonuclear cross-sections. Radiation losses:
bremsstrahlung and cyclotron radiation. Energy balance: Lawson criterion,
neutronnics in a fusion reactor. Plasma confinement: Pinch effect, stellarator
and magnetic mirrors. Plasma heating ohmic and adiabatic compression:
Tokamaks. Inertial confinement of plasma microexplosion and laser fusion.

NT 634 NUCLEAR REACTION AND INTERACTION OF RADIATION WITH MATTER

L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Introduction of nuclear Properties, Angular momentum and spin, Shell model,
Nuclear Reactions, Kinematics, Cross-sections, and decay, Resonances, Energy
loss of radiation going through matter, Shielding Concepts Geometries, and shield
attenuation calculations.

NT 641 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY

L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Overview, medical imaging, nondestructive testing, radiographic techniques,
various applications, data collection, design of CT scanners for materials testing,
flow measurement, related instrumentation, Radon’s inversion formula, central-
slice theorem, fan-beam inversion, filter functions, convolving functions transform
methods, series-expansion methods, convolution algorithms, error estimates,
direct theorems, inverse theorems.

NT 642 NON DESTRUCTIVE EVALUATION

L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Introduction, various NDE techniques- ultrasonics, eddy current, magnetic flux
leakage, radiography, optical, tomographic extensions of classical NDE/NDT methods
Radon inversion, data collection mechanisms, applications in industrial situations.

NT 651 FAST REACTOR TECHNO-LOGY

L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Introduction, Core design, Fuel-element design, Fuel management, Heat transport
systems, Steam-generators, IHX design, Sodium pumps & piping, Instrumentation
& controls, safety, extractive and physical metallurgy of nuclear materials,
Metallic fuels, cladding, post irradiation examination, fabrication of fuel, Steels
for nuclear environment, advanced NDT techniques, corrosion.

376
NT 652 Nuclear Fuel Cycle
L-T-P-D-[C]
3-0-0-0-[4] Introduction, nuclear fuels, uranium technology, xirconium process, babrication
of fuel assemblies, PWR fuel, mixed-oxide fuel, irradiated fuel, reprocessing,
radioactivity, contamination, waste management, enrichment of uranium, thorium
cycle, fast reactor fuel cycle and fuel fabrication, environmental impact and
safety.

377