Courses
A total of four classes (12 credit hours) in Nuclear Engineering is required to earn this certificate.
Required Courses
NE 504 - Radiation Safety and Shielding
Units: 3
A basic course in radiation safety and environmental aspects of nuclear power generation. Topics include radiation interaction, photon attenuation, shielding, internal and external dose evaluation, reactor effluents and release of radioactivity into the environment, transportation and disposal of radioactive waste; and environmental impact of nuclear power plants. Term-long project.
Offered in Fall Only
NE 590 - Health Physics and Radiological Emergency Response
Units: 3
This is an advanced health physics course encompassing internal and external radiological dosimetry along with control of radiation fields including airborne radioactivity. Students will learn basic interactions and response functions, biological effects as well as natural and manmade sources allowing emphasis on the final coverage of nuclear emergency response.
Offered in Spring Only
Additional Courses (Select two courses from the following):
NE 520 - Radiation and Reactor Fundamentals
Units: 3
Basics of nuclear physics and reactor physics that are needed for graduate studies in nuclear engineering. Concepts covered include, atomic and nuclear models, nuclear reactions, nuclear fission, radioactive decay, neutron interactions, nuclear reactors, neutron diffusion in non-multiplying and multiplying systems, and basic nuclear reactor kinetics.
Offered in Fall Only
NE 521 - Principles of Radiation Measurement
Units: 3
Radiation detection measurement methods employed in nuclear engineering. Topics include: physics of nuclear decay and nuclear reactions, interaction of charged particles, photons, and neutrons with matter, fundamental properties of radiation measurement systems, statistical analysis of radiation measurements, common radiation detectors [gas-filled detectors, scintillators, and semiconductor detectors], data acquisition and processing methods, and radiation measurement applications.
Offered in Fall Only
NE 531 - Nuclear Waste Management
Units: 3
Scientific and engineering aspects of nuclear waste management. Management of spent fuel, high-level waste, uranium mill tailings, low-level waste and decommissioning wastes. Fundamental processes for the evaluation of waste management systems with emphasis on the safety assessment of waste disposal facilities to include nuclear criticality safety, free release and transportation. There is also a required research project for the graduate version of the course.
Offered in Spring Only
YEAR: Offered Alternate Even Years
NE 777 - Radiological Assessment
Units: 3
Principles of analyzing environmental radiation transport and resulting human exposure and dose and dose management. Source terms of radiation exposure, the radon problem, transport or radionuclides in the atmosphere, effluent pathways modeling, radiation dosimetry, probabilistic models for environmental assessment, uncertainty analysis, and radiation risk management. A laboratory research project report will be developed as an outcome of this course.
Offered in Fall Only
Academic Performance Requirements
- To receive a GCHP, students must maintain an overall 3.00 grade point average (GPA) on all NCSU graduate coursework. Courses at the 400 level and below are not eligible for the GCHP; where applicable, 400/500-level courses must be taken at the 500 level for inclusion in the certificate. Courses taken at the 400 level are not to be considered toward the GPA requirement for receipt of the credential.
- All courses taken toward the GCHP must receive a grade of B- or better.
- All courses taken toward the GCHP must be letter graded and cannot be taken for credit only.
- No transfer credit from other institutions is allowed; all coursework must be completed at NCSU.
- All credits toward the GCHP must be completed within four years beginning with the start of the earliest course.
- Up to two graduate certificate courses (6 hours) can be taken by students who are also enrolled in a graduate degree program which can be double-counted with the degree courses, to the extent that the courses unique to the degree remain at 18 hours for a MS degree or 36 hours for the PhD degree.