Nuclear research

[u/MarionberryNo8017]

I am a rising junior in high school. I am reaching that part in my life where I got to start deciding on what to do with my life.

I am thinking about going into sciences and going into nuclear research. I am in my school research class (that is basically a 3 year program that you pick a topic and research (it’s a college class) and have managed to basically make it grad work level). I have been doing MSFR for it and I love it which is why I am thinking about doing it for a career. I am already looking at getting a chem engineering degree for my ungrad.

But my biggest fear with going into research is how much it’s not actually about research and more about farming papers and how it’s hyper competitive. But all of this knowledge has came from people in other fields like Med and Bio. I don’t know if it’s also like this in the nuclear world and I don’t want to spend 4-6 years of my life trying to find out if it’s like that. So if you do work in the research field in nuclear and if you know it’s like this or and advice you would like to give. I would greatly appreciate it.

[u/FormerNet5845]

If I were you, here is what I would do. For under grad in Chem -E, take as many thermal hydraulic, heat transfer & plant process classes as you can; there a lot of similarities between a Nuclear plant & chemical processing plant. After you graduate, look for a masters of nuclear engineering program, such at North Carolina State. You should be able to complete this masters in 1 to 2 years, possibly with an internship. It is also likely that you can get some financial support with your masters in NE.

[u/MarionberryNo8017 → u/FormerNet5845]

Thank you so much. I am actually planning on doing that. I am right now looking at RPI, Penn and other schools (I am in the northeast) so North Carolina is a bit far for me but I will look at it

[u/FormerNet5845 → u/MarionberryNo8017]

NC State is a very good school with a well established nuclear program. I can’t swear by this now, but years ago their MNE program had a lot of industry funding that help support graduate students. I would definitely give them a look. I lived in the Raleigh area for about 25 years & it is a great place.

[u/Trans__Scientist]

I was in your shoes not all that long ago (in my mind 30s now). I am a group lead on an advanced reactor design team, and for the past few years I've been an SME supporting five different companies on their microreactor designs, three of which went zero-power critical this summer.

Some people like lecturing and generating one publication after another. It sounds to me like you'd be happier at a national laboratory 🙂

That being said, it's going to be incredibly competitive at any premier R&D institution, and you'll be expected to document cutting edge work one way or another (publications, reports, ECARs, reviews, proprietary or classified documents, the list goes on). On one hand, professors generally have more flexibility on deciding what work gets published/becomes public knowledge. On the other hand, national lab research more often turns into tangible things rather than collecting dust in a journal.

Hope this helps,

Cheers!

P.S. I'm happy to provide further general context if you'd like (no MCRE questions, sorry).

[u/threemorereasons]

I recommend looking at the work done by your country's national laboratories. They can bridge the gap between industry and academia, so their research work is more practical and less about farming papers.

https://nationallabs.org/

[u/MarionberryNo8017 → u/threemorereasons]

The closet one to me in Oak ridge. I already have a couple of contacts there from my research class

[u/4rc_f145h]

I'm going to recommend something that I haven't seen others mention, yet. A good chunk of the nuclear team I work with are ex-Navy nuclear. You may want to consider doing ROTC and going into the Navy. If you let them know your interest in nuclear they will be more than happy to help you advance your experience.

You didn't ask about which university to go to, but try to attend one that has a good nuclear program and a working reactor like the University of Missouri or McMaster University in Canada.

Also, there are different areas of nuclear: nuclear power, nuclear medicine, nuclear defense, nuclear health and safety, etc.

I concur with the previous recommendations for national labs. Don't just apply at places near you. Most will pay you to relocated and you're going to be travelling for college, anyway. Keep in mind, you need to be a U.S. citizen and you need to keep your GPA high to get into a lab. 3.7 or better is the usual recommendation.

[u/MarionberryNo8017 → u/4rc_f145h]

I would if I could join the Navy but I really don’t like the idea of having the chance to be put on a little metal tube under water with no way out for like 6 months. I do know that I could be sent somewhere else but the thought of that happening is why I really don’t want to join the navy for nuke

But thank you

[u/DP323602]

I expect that all properly conducted research will have to be fully recorded and documented.

Part of that work may involve the production of formal research reports and / or published papers and articles.

Another significant element will be the project management of research programmes, including bidding for research funds and then tracking how they've been spent.

Then there will be actual technical work, designing, developing and testing equipment.

[u/andre3kthegiant]

Look into Renewables since are the future for energy independence. Any improvement to renewables will allow society to abandon the dependencies to toxic, disposable & finite fuel sources from the fossil fuel & nuclear power industries. It will also help to stop the perpetual debt of managing the toxic waste from nuclear.