Nuclear Engineering

University of California, Berkeley

Overview

The Department of Nuclear Engineering was established in 1958. There are currently about 78 graduate students in the department. Graduates find opportunities for employment and professional careers in the United States and abroad. Recent graduates are employed in academia, industry, national laboratories, and state and federal agencies.

The Nuclear Engineering program is comprised of classroom and laboratory instruction at the undergraduate and graduate levels and has a strong, diverse research program. The projects are part of the department's ongoing mission to provide an education to individuals who will make key contributions and become future leaders serving California and the nation by improving and applying nuclear science and technology.  The department's research areas include applied nuclear physics; bionuclear and radiological physics; computational methods; energy systems and the environment; ethics and the impact of technology on society; fission reactor design; fuel cycles and radioactive waste; plasma fusion science and technology; laser, particle beam, and plasma technologies; nuclear materials and chemistry; nuclear thermal hydraulics;  risk, safety, and large-scale systems analysis, and nonproliferation.

The department has strong relations with the nearby Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. A number of faculty and students collaborate with researchers in these laboratories, and use the facilities of these laboratories in their research projects.

Other Resources

The department sponsors the Rad Watch project. It has been performing a large range of radiation measurements starting in March 2011, following the releases of radioactive materials from the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. One of the goals of this activity was to measure the radioactivity in Californian samples that could potentially be associated with the releases in Japan using state-of-the-art experiments, to publish the data without filter or restriction, and to put the results in the context of the radiation we are exposed to in our daily lives. In response to the resurgent interest in radiation levels due to the expected arrival of cesium at the North American west coast, we are increasing our efforts again to measure samples potentially affected by the Pacific Ocean current transport. 

Undergraduate Programs

Nuclear Engineering: BS, Minor
Chemical Engineering/Nuclear Engineering: BS (Joint Major in conjunction with the College of Chemistry)
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences/Nuclear Engineering: BS (Joint Major)
Materials Science and Engineering/Nuclear Engineering: BS (Joint Major)
Mechanical Engineering/Nuclear Engineering: BS (Joint Major)

Graduate Programs

Nuclear Engineering: MEng, MS/MPP, PhD

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Courses

Nuclear Engineering

Contact Information

Department of Nuclear Engineering

4155 Etcheverry Hall

Phone: 510-642-4077

Fax: 510-643-9685

Visit Department Website

Department Chair

Massimiliano Fratoni

4151 Etcheverry Hall

maxfratoni@berkeley.edu

Student Services Advisor

Amanda Gill

4149 Etcheverry Hall

agill@berkeley.edu

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