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A Brief History of NCSU Nuclear Engineering
Construction of the first reactor (1950).
by Raymond L. Murray, Professor Emeritus
The nuclear engineering program at North Carolina
State University continues its traditional role in educational leadership
and innovation. Over the years, the program has sought to meet the needs
of the time and to anticipate future developments. In 1950, Clifford Beck,
then of Oak Ridge, Tennessee,obtained support from N. C. State's Dean
of Engineering, Harold Lampe,for the idea of building the nation's first
university nuclear reactor and establishing the first university nuclear
engineering educational curriculum. New faculty joining Dr. Beck included
A. C. Menius, Jr., Raymond Murray, Arthur Waltner, and Newton Underwood.
The team successfully met and overcame the challenges of the period after
World War II: resistance to an entirely new discipline, the non-existence
of textbooks, and security limitations on information about reactors.
Approval was secured to offer the Ph.D.degree, in addition to the M.S.
and B.S. degrees.
The early student body consisted of a number of highly
qualified U.S. Air Force officers, who set standards of excellence for
students to come later. Graduates of nuclear engineering now are leaders
in government, industry, and education. A high percentage of the graduates
entered university teaching, in part because of the climate of good
teaching maintained by the department over the years. The nuclear engineering
faculty was among the group that presented special training to foreign
scientists and engineers in the Atoms for Peace program, an experiment
in sharing nuclear technology on an international basis. North Carolina
State's pioneering experiment in nuclear education became the center
of attention of the United States and the world. In the early days of
nuclear reactor research and development, the curricula were highly
science oriented. More recently, greater emphasis been placed on engineering
applications. Research by the faculty and graduate students in basic
subjects such as nuclear physics and reactor theory has been supplemented
by studies of many engineering topics and radiation applications.
Paralleling the transition in the nuclear field from
basic experiments to commercial power, the nuclear program at N. C.
State has built and operated a sequence of reactors: a water boiler,
an MTR plate type reactor, and the present 1-megawatt PULSTAR, with
uranium oxide fuel and pulsing capability. Each reactor has been used
for student training, research, and services to other organizations
in North Carolina and the United States. Services and training have
included neutron activation analysis, reactor operator training, neutron
radiography, radioisotope production and special courses.
The undergraduate curriculum achieved and has maintained
engineering accreditation. The curriculum has consistently provided
well-rounded undergraduate training. The ranks of the faculty expanded
after 1963 to include Albert Carnesale, Kuruvilla Verghese, Thomas Elleman,
Raymond Saxe, James Bohannon, Ephraim Stam, Robin Gardner, Lloyd Zumwalt,
and Jerome Kohl. Authorization was gained from the North Carolina General
Assembly to construct the Burlington Engineering Laboratories, which
now house the department and the new reactor.
For the first decades of the program, much of the financial
support was from the federal government through grants, fellowships,
and research contracts. More recently, the maturing nuclear industry
has taken part of the responsibility for encouraging high school graduates
to elect nuclear engineering and for supporting the education of these
future employees.
Many of the earlier faculty have moved into industrial
posts or have retired, but the program continues to grow, both in the
number of faculty members and in the scope of its offerings. Important
recent additions include the Center for Engineering Applications of
Radioisotopes, the Electric Power Research Center, the Thermal Hydraulics
Laboratory, the Nuclear Materials Research Laboratory, and the Fusion
and Plasma Research and Teaching Program. Each of these activities is
in the exciting forefront of the nuclear field.
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