What are the basic concepts of the atomic nucleus and the role and importance of nuclear energy, radiation, and plasma in the subfields of nuclear engineering?

In nuclear engineering, you will learn the basic concepts of atomic nuclei and the various engineering applications that utilize them. Nuclear power plays an important role in energy production, radiation in healthcare and safety, and plasma in industry and future energy research.

 

My department is called Nuclear and Atomic Engineering. As the name suggests, in my department we learn about reactions involving atomic nuclei and how they are used in engineering. So, to understand my department, you need to know what an atomic nucleus is at the most basic level. It is a well-known fact that atoms are the fundamental building blocks of all substances. For example, water is written with the chemical symbol “H2O,” which means that it is made up of two hydrogen atoms (H) and one oxygen atom (O). The components that make up an atom are the nucleus and electrons. To understand what they look like, think of the planets revolving around the sun. In an atom, the nucleus is the sun and the electrons are the planets. The nucleus is also made up of protons and neutrons. This is very important, because everything we’re going to talk about in the course is going to be related to the nucleus.
We have three subspecializations, all of which can be easily explained in terms of the nucleus. First, nuclei can be shocked and split. This is called nuclear fission, and it generates a lot of energy. This fission produces radiation, which is invisible to the eye but has energy. The field that studies this is radiation. Finally, when atoms are split into electrons and nuclei, new substances are created, which are called plasma, and the field of plasma studies them.

 

 

The first field I will introduce is nuclear energy. It is my favorite field and the largest part of our department. When I think of nuclear energy, the first thing that comes to mind is nuclear power plants, and it is also the part of our department that I am most proud of. Nuclear power plants are a major source of energy, accounting for 35 percent of Korea’s energy, but the only thing that makes them different from other power plants is that the way they generate heat is nuclear fission. Eventually, they use this energy to turn turbines to generate electricity, so other than that, they are no different from other power plants.
Therefore, in order to utilize our expertise, we need to understand and research and develop the specific part of the power plant called the core, where nuclear fission occurs. Also, this is where uranium, which is the fuel for nuclear fission, is used, and because we are dealing with so much energy, even the slightest possibility of an accident can lead to great danger. If there is an accident, it doesn’t end there, there is always the risk of radioactivity leaking out, so the study of safety is quite important compared to other engineering fields, which means that we are constantly studying how to design uranium to get energy efficiently and how to generate energy safely. Because of the nature of our school, we enter the field of research differently from other nuclear-related majors, so it is unique that we do not study how to directly operate nuclear power plants. On the other hand, we focus on research, so our seniors are the ones who know most of the developments and innovations related to nuclear power in Korea.
The second is the radiation field. Radiation is produced by the splitting of atomic nuclei, which I mentioned earlier. This is what we usually think of as radioactivity. People often think of radioactivity as a really dangerous substance, but that’s only half true. In reality, radioactivity is used in many applications. You can easily think of medical devices like X-rays and MRIs. Radioactivity comes in different weights, so heavier ones will bombard matter, while lighter ones can penetrate. We study these properties with the goal of creating medical devices. There is also research on how we can visualize radioactivity, so we can shoot radioactivity and understand its distribution, so we can understand which parts of the body are harder to penetrate and how this explains the state of the body. We are also studying the risk of radioactivity, how dangerous it is and how much is acceptable. There’s still a lot to learn about radiation, so we’re continuing to do research. In order to make a nuclear weapon, you have to use uranium to make an unnatural atom called plutonium, which produces radioactivity, which is gamma rays, which you can think of as massless, and if you detect them, you can tell if you have a nuclear weapon because they travel very long distances. So countries that are concerned about national security are trying to detect radioactivity and study which reactions produce which radioactivity.
Finally, there’s the field of plasmas. Plasma is divided into industrial plasma and fusion plasma. Industrial-type plasma is used in actual industry, especially for precision welding, which is a very helpful technology for Korea, which mainly exports semiconductors. Therefore, I am studying how plasma reacts and applying it for practical use. Since plasma is a state in which atoms are divided into ions and electrons, you need to understand electric and magnetic fields to understand their behavior. When electricity or magnetism flows, things with positive and negative properties tend to move, so we learn how to handle plasma. Plasma is also used in nuclear fusion, which is the energy of the future. However, unlike the plasma used in industry, the plasma used in nuclear fusion is very high temperature and high density, so it is difficult to maintain it. Therefore, the key is how to trap and maintain this plasma. In fact, Korea’s nuclear fusion laboratory, K-star, has maintained a plasma of such a density that nuclear fusion is possible for three hours, and although it is difficult to maintain, if you can maintain the plasma continuously, nuclear fusion is possible, so this is a very important technology.
Our department covers three areas. As I said earlier, we have applications like this using the atomic nucleus, and there are things that we are pursuing in all of them. In the nuclear field, it is safety, in the radiation field, it is detection, and in the plasma field, it is maintenance. In order to achieve this, continuous research and development is required. Therefore, in our department, we try to provide students with a solid foundation in theoretical education from the undergraduate level, and provide them with all the necessary conditions for research in graduate school. The process of developing innovative technologies through research and putting them into practice is a constant series of challenges and achievements. Nuclear engineering is a field that can make a significant contribution to solving future energy problems and creating new technologies, and our department is committed to achieving these goals.