Two student construction projects in the nuclear engineering
program -- one recently completed and one just getting under way -- are
saving Penn State millions of dollars, while providing real-life experiences
for engineering students.Two student construction projects in the nuclear engineering
program -- one recently completed and one just getting under way -- are
saving Penn State millions of dollars, while providing real-life experiences
for engineering students.
Completely built by students, Penn State's new Low Pressure Integrated Systems Test Facility towers over the Breazeale Nuclear Facility's Cobalt 60 pool at University Park.
Erecting the test loop, as it's known, took three-and-a-half years and cost the College of Engineering a mere $150,000 -- compared to the $4 million to $5 million another Big Ten engineering school spent to purchase a similar system with higher pressure capabilities.
"We established the project to expose undergraduates to more real-world situations. Through a special course, the students acted as a turnkey architectural engineering firm, to design and build the facility. With this project they were involved as engineers and experienced everything, including the aggravations and frustrations, that engineers sometimes encounter," said Anthony Baratta, professor and chair of the nuclear engineering program. "Students came up with the design and the quality of their work has been excellent."
Students will use the test loop to study the design of a new type of nuclear reactor called a Simplified Boiling Water Reactor (SBWR). A SBWR design uses natural circulation to keep the reactor cooled, rather than a pumped flow for a primary system. The test loop was designed with an array of instruments and glass tubing so students can watch how the flow works.
In a similar student-built project, students are installing donated training equipment from GPU's Three Mile Island reactor to provide future students with simulated hands-on experience running a nuclear power plant. GPU's Basic Principles Simulator trains engineers to work with the operators who run nuclear power plants and other large industrial plants. The simulator is a large computer system with software that simulates the processes in a nuclear power plant, the reactor itself, as well as the steam and safety systems.
In addition to training students, the simulator will be used to launch a new educational initiative for the nuclear engineering department. Using the simulator, students will gain expertise through performing research on the information technology requirements of nuclear power plants.
"In fact," said Baratta, "GPU has already discussed the possibility of having our graduate students rewrite some of the software that simulators like this use, to improve their capabilities."