nuclear engineering phd reddit

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Doctor of Philosophy in Nuclear Science and Engineering

Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering

Program Requirements

Note: Students in this program can choose to receive the Doctor of Philosophy or the Doctor of Science in Nuclear Science and Engineering or in another departmental field of specialization. Students receiving veterans benefits must select the degree they wish to receive prior to program certification with the Veterans Administration.

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The PDF includes all information on this page and its related tabs. Subject (course) information includes any changes approved for the current academic year.

• University of Wisconsin-Madison

DEGREE Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics, PhD

Doctoral degree in nuclear engineering

As a PhD student in nuclear engineering and engineering physics, you’ll gain deeper experience studying the interaction of radiation with matter. With a strong emphasis on engineering and applied science, you’ll be able to focus on any of several areas, including researching, designing, developing and deploying fission reactors; fusion engineering; plasma physics; radiation damage to materials; applied superconductivity and cryogenics; and large-scale computing in engineering science.

At a glance

Nuclear engineering and engineering physics department, learn more about what information you need to apply., how to apply.

Please consult the table below for key information about this degree program’s admissions requirements. The program may have more detailed admissions requirements, which can be found below the table or on the program’s website.

Graduate admissions is a two-step process between academic programs and the Graduate School. Applicants must meet the minimum requirements of the Graduate School as well as the program(s). Once you have researched the graduate program(s) you are interested in, apply online .

GRE scores are optional. Applicants may submit GRE scores, but are not required to do so. Applications without scores are not placed at a disadvantage.  However, received scores will be considered as part of our holistic evaluation of applications.

Application Requirements and Process

For admission to graduate study in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics, an applicant must have a bachelor’s degree in engineering, mathematics, or physical science, and an undergraduate record that indicates an ability to successfully pursue graduate study. International applicants must have a degree comparable to a regionally accredited US bachelor’s degree. All applicants must satisfy requirements that are set forth by the  Graduate School . 

It is highly recommended that students take courses that cover the same material as these UW-Madison courses before entering the program:

Descriptions of course content can be accessed through Guide . Students may enter without having taken these courses. However, in such cases the students must inform their advisors, who will help them plan courses of study that will provide adequate background for our department’s graduate curriculum.

The Graduate School requires a minimum undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 basis on the equivalent of the last 60 semester hours from the most recent bachelor’s degree. In special cases, students with grade point averages lower than 3.0 who meet all the general requirements of the Graduate School may be considered for admission on probation.

Advisor Selection Process

PhD applicants are encouraged to identify potential faculty advisors and seek a confirmation. Review the department  Research and People websites and contact those whose research interests align with yours. Only faculty members listed with the titles of Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, or Professor, can serve as graduate advisors. Do not contact Emeritus faculty, Lecturers, Research Scientists, or Faculty Associates. You are also encouraged to inquire about possible funding opportunities. If a faculty member agrees to be your advisor, ask the person to email an acknowledgment to [email protected] .

Application Materials

Each application must include the following:

• Graduate School Application
• Academic transcripts
• Statement of purpose
• Three letters of recommendation
• GRE Scores (optional – see below for additional information)
• English Proficiency Score (if required)

Application Fee

Academic transcript.

Within the online application, upload the undergraduate transcript(s) and, if applicable, the previous graduate transcript. Unofficial copies of transcripts are required for review and official copies are required for admitted applicants. Please do not send transcripts or any other application materials to the Graduate School or the Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics department unless requested. Review the requirements set by the  Graduate School  for additional information about degrees/transcripts.

Statement of Purpose

The University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School and the Department of Nuclear Engineering & Engineering Physics have the following guidelines for the Statement of Purpose:

• Have you read an article by one or more faculty members?
• Has your advisor specifically directed you to this program?
• Do you have other ties to this program and/or school?
• Pick out the pertinent facts about your academic and professional interests that make you a good fit with the program and institution to which you are applying. (A statement of purpose is not a place to list everything you have done.)
• Describe research experiences regardless of whether they are related to your current interests. 
• Being self-motivated, curiosity-driven, and goal-oriented are important qualities for aspiring PhDs in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics. To provide evidence of these qualities, you may write about relevant experiences you have had. 
• Perseverance and the ability to overcome adversity are also important. Again, discuss relevant experiences you may have to provide evidence. 
• Mention extra-curricular achievements to illustrate additional dimensions of your personality. 
• Explain (briefly) any incongruity in your application material, such as a low semester grade. 
• Our page limit is two and a half pages, but there is no obligation to write long statements.

For more information from the Graduate School, please review their  webpage . 

Upload your resume in your application.

Three Letters of Recommendation

These letters are required from people who can accurately judge the applicant’s academic and/or research performance. It is highly recommended these letters be from faculty familiar with the applicant. Letters of recommendation are submitted electronically to graduate programs through the online application. See the  Graduate School for FAQs  regarding letters of recommendation. Letters of recommendation are due by the deadline listed above. 

English Proficiency Scores

Every applicant whose native language is not English, or whose undergraduate instruction was not in English, must provide an English proficiency test score. The UW-Madison Graduate School accepts TOEFL, IETLS, and Duolingo scores. Your score will not be accepted if it is more than two years old from the start of your admission term. Country of citizenship does not exempt applicants from this requirement. Language of instruction at the college or university level and how recent the language instruction was taken are the determining factors in meeting this requirement.

For more information regarding minimum score requirements and exemption policy, see the Graduate School Requirements for Admission .

Application submission must be accompanied by the one-time application fee. It is non-refundable and can be paid by credit card (MasterCard or Visa). Additional information about the application fee may be found here (scroll to the ‘Frequently asked questions).

Fee grants are available through the conditions  outlined here by the Graduate School .

Reentry Admissions

If you were previously enrolled as a graduate student in the Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics program, have not earned your degree, but have had a break in enrollment for a minimum of a fall or spring term, you will need to re-apply to resume your studies. Review the Graduate School requirements for previously enrolled students . Your previous faculty advisor (or another Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics faculty advisor) must be willing to supply advising support and should email the Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics Graduate Student Services Coordinator regarding next steps in the process.

If you were previously enrolled in a UW-Madison graduate degree, completed that degree, have had a break in enrollment since earning the degree and would now like to apply for another UW-Madison program; you are required to submit a new student application through the UW-Madison Graduate School online application. For Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics graduate programs, you must follow the entire application process as described above.

Currently Enrolled Graduate Student Admissions

Students currently enrolled as a graduate student at UW-Madison, whether in Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics or a non-Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics graduate program, wishing to apply to this degree program should contact the Graduate Admissions Team to inquire about the process and deadlines several months in advance of the anticipated enrollment term. Current students may apply to change or add programs for any term (fall, spring, or summer).

If you have questions, contact  [email protected] .

Tuition and funding

Tuition and segregated fee rates are always listed per semester (not for Fall and Spring combined).

View tuition rates

Graduate School Resources

Resources to help you afford graduate study might include assistantships, fellowships, traineeships, and financial aid.  Further funding information is available from the Graduate School. Be sure to check with your program for individual policies and restrictions related to funding.

Program Resources

Offers of financial support from the Department, College, and University are in the form of research assistantships (RAs), teaching assistantships (TAs), project assistantships (PAs), and partial or full fellowships. Prospective PhD students that receive such offers will have a minimum five-year guarantee of support. The funding for research assistantships comes from faculty research grants. Each professor decides on his or her own research assistantship offers. International applicants must secure a research assistantship, teaching assistantship, project assistantship, fellowship, or independent funding before admission is final. Funded students are expected to maintain full-time enrollment.  See the program website for additional information on current research activities.

Additional Resources

International student services funding and scholarships.

For information on International Student Funding and Scholarships, visit the  International Student Services website .

In the Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics, we strive to design and deploy unique world-class experimental and computational capabilities to translate novel discoveries into transformative technologies. Having a broad range of laboratory facilities and collaborative centers at the right scale for energy and mechanics research is a hallmark of the department. The technologies we develop can solve challenges in energy, health, space, security and many other areas.

View our research

Curricular Requirements

Minimum graduate school requirements.

Review the Graduate School minimum  academic progress and degree requirements , in addition to the program requirements listed below.

Required Courses

Students must fulfill the coursework requirements for the nuclear engineering and engineering physics MS  degree whether receiving the MS degree or going directly to the PhD. They must complete an additional 9 credits of technical coursework (numbered 400 and above), beyond the coursework requirement for the MS. These additional 9 credits must have the “Grad 50%” attribute. Candidates must take three technical courses numbered 700 or above; must satisfy the PhD technical minor requirement; and must satisfy the PhD non-technical minor requirement.

The candidate is also required to complete, as a graduate student, one course numbered 400 or above in each of the following Areas: fission reactors; plasma physics and fusion; materials; engineering mathematics and computation (see Area Coursework Examples below).

MS Coursework Requirements

The following courses, or courses with similar material content, must be taken prior to or during the course of study: N E 427 Nuclear Instrumentation Laboratory ; N E 428 Nuclear Reactor Laboratory or N E 526 Laboratory Course in Plasmas ; N E 408 Ionizing Radiation or N E/​MED PHYS  569 Health Physics and Biological Effects .

Thesis Pathway 1

Maximum of 12 credits for thesis; at least 8 credits of Nuclear Engineering ( N E ) courses numbered 400 or above; remaining credits (also numbered 400 or above) must be in appropriate technical areas 2 ; at least 9 credits must be numbered 500 and above; up to 3 credits can be seminar credits.

Non-Thesis Pathway 1

At least 15 credits of Nuclear Engineering ( N E ) courses numbered 400 or above; remaining 15 credits (also numbered 400 or above) must be in appropriate technical areas 2 ; at least 12 credits must be at numbered 500 or above; up to 3 credits can be seminar credits.

For both the thesis and non-thesis options, only one course (maximum of 3 credits) of independent study ( N E 699 Advanced Independent Study , N E 999 Advanced Independent Study ) is allowed.

These pathways are internal to the program and represent different curricular paths a student can follow to earn this degree. Pathway names do not appear in the Graduate School admissions application, and they will not appear on the transcript.

Appropriate technical areas are: Engineering departments (except Engineering and Professional Development), Physics, Math, Statistics, Computer Science, Medical Physics, and Chemistry. Other courses may be deemed appropriate by a student’s faculty advisor.

Area Coursework Examples

These courses are examples that would meet the requirement and are not meant to be a restricted list of possible courses. The candidate is required to complete one course in each of the following areas:

Non-Technical Minor Requirements

PhD candidates must complete one of the following four study options prior to receiving dissertator status. As this is a formal Department requirement, the student should select a Non-Technical Minor early in the program, and must complete it to achieve dissertator status (see below). The Non-Technical Minor must be planned with the help of the candidate’s advisor and must be approved by the Department Non-Technical Minor Advisor except for Study Option IV which must be approved by the Department faculty. A Non-Technical Minor Approval Form is available from the Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics Graduate Coordinator, and must be filed prior to submission of the doctoral plan form. Courses numbered below 400 may be used as a part of the Non-Technical Minor.

Study Option I

Technology-Society Interaction Coursework. This option is intended to increase the student’s awareness of the possible effects of technology on society and of the professional responsibilities of engineers and scientists in understanding such side effects. These effects could, for example, involve the influence of engineering on advancement of human welfare, on the distribution of wealth in society, or on environmental and ecological systems.

Suggested courses for fulfilling Option I include:

Study Option II

Humanistic Society Studies Coursework. The basic objectives of this option are to help prepare the student to bridge the gap between C.P. Snow’s “Two Cultures.” Snow’s 1959 lecture thesis was that the breakdown of communication between the “two cultures” of modern society – the sciences and the humanities – was a major hindrance to solving the world’s problems. Study might be designed to give a greater appreciation of the arts such as the classics, music, or painting, or it might be designed, for example, as preparation for translating technical information to the non-technical public.

Suggested areas of study to fulfill Option II include Anthropology, Area Studies, Art, Art History, Classics, Comparative Literature, Contemporary Trends, English (literature), Foreign Languages (literature), Social Work, Sociology, and Speech. Under either Option I or II, the student must take 6 credits of coursework. The courses must be approved by the student’s advisor and the non-technical minor advisor, and the 6 credits should be concentrated in one topical area. Grades in these courses need not meet the Departmental Grade Policy. However, note that all grades in courses numbered 300 or above courses (including grades for Non-Technical Minor courses) are calculated in the Graduate School minimum 3.0 graduation requirement.

Study Option III

Foreign Culture Coursework. This option is intended for the student who desires to live and work in a foreign nation or work with people of a foreign culture. Examples include studies of the history of a foreign nation, of the political stability of a region of the world, of the culture of a particular group within a nation, or of the spoken language of a foreign nation. For Option III the student must take six credits of courses under all of the same conditions and requirements as for Option I and II unless choosing language study. For the latter case, the student must attain a grade of C or better in all courses. If the student has previous knowledge of a language, it is required that either courses beyond the introductory level will be elected or that another language will be elected.

Study Option IV

Technology-Society Interactions Experience. There are many possible technology-society interactions that might be more educational and meaningful for the student as an actual experience than coursework. For example, the student might run for and be elected to a position of alderperson in the city government. Consequently, this option allows the student to pursue a particular aspect of the interaction using his own time and resources.

Study Option IV activity must be planned with the student’s advisor and be approved by the faculty. The effort required should be equivalent to 6 credits of coursework. Upon completion of this program, the student will prepare a written or oral report.

Note: Students from countries in which English is not the native language have inherently fulfilled these non-technical study goals and are exempt from these formal requirements.

Graduate Student Services [email protected] 3182 Mechanical Engineering 1513 University Ave., Madison, WI 53706

Carl Sovinec, Director of Graduate Studies [email protected]

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Department of Nuclear Engineering & Industrial Management

Idaho falls.

Nuclear Engineering & Industrial Management

1776 Science Center Drive, Suite 306 Idaho Falls, ID 83402

Phone: 208-757-5450

Fax: 208-757-5494

Email: [email protected]

Ph.D. Nuclear Engineering

Career information is not specific to degree level. Some career options may require an advanced degree.

Current Job Openings and Salary Range

in ID, WA, OR, MT and HI

Entry-Level

Senior-Level

• Career Options
• Biomass Power Plant Manager
• Architectural and Engineering Manager
• Electrical Engineer
• Nuclear Engineer
• Engineering Teacher, Postsecondary

Regional Employment Trends

Employment trends and projected job growth in ID, WA, OR, MT & HI

*Job data is collected from national, state and private sources. For more information, visit EMSI's data sources page .

• Degree Prep

View the Ph.D. Nuclear Engineering prerequisites, deadlines and contact information on the U of I Admissions website .

• Degree Roadmap
• The Doctor of Philosophy degree is an advanced research-based degree. The results of the research done are summarized in a publishable doctoral dissertation.
• Depending on your interests, your academic adviser and graduate committee will help you develop a focused plan of study for the Ph.D. Nuclear Engineering degree.
• The program requires a minimum of 78 credit hours beyond the bachelor's degree and normally takes 3 to 5 years to complete.

View Nuclear Engineering Graduate Handbook (PDF)

View current Nuclear Engineering courses Catalogs are released each year with up-to-date course listings. Students reference the catalog released during their first year of enrollment. For catalog related questions, email [email protected] or call 208-885-6731.

• Degree Requirements
• Nuclear graduate requirements
• College of Graduate Studies requirements
• Students are required to write a dissertation and give a final dissertation defense at the end of their degree program.
• Professional Licensing

Completion of the program will count towards eligibility for the Professional Engineer's License (PE) to practice Engineering , which requires a four-year degree from an ABET-accredited school, four years of experience under a PE, and passing the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) and Principles of Practice in Engineering (PE) Exams.

For questions relating to Nuclear Engineering degrees, please contact Richard Christensen, Director, U of I Nuclear Engineering Program at 208-533-8102 or email [email protected] .

• Funding Opportunities

The University of Idaho is awarded more than $100 million in annual grants, contracts and research appropriations.

• Idaho National Laboratory Graduate Fellowship Program – Recipients of this competitive fellowship receive full tuition and fees by U of I during their first three years of graduate school. INL covers tuition, fees, and a $60,000 annual salary during the final two years of their doctoral research, to be conducted at INL.
• National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) Graduate Fellowship Program – These year-long salaried assignments offer hands-on experience in nuclear security and nonproliferation. Administered by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) and open to all engineering disciplines.
• NASA Idaho Space Grant Consortium (ISGC) – $25,000 fellowship programs that contribute to NASA’s mission of exploration and discovery. Open to full-time graduate and doctoral students.
• National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP ) – For outstanding graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees.
• National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship – Three-year fellowship with full coverage of tuition and all mandatory fees, including a monthly stipend and up to $1,000 a year in medical insurance.
• DAAD Research Internships in Science and Engineering (RISE Professional) Programs – RISE Professional offers summer research internships in Germany to Master’s and Ph.D. students at companies and non-university research institutions with strong relations to industry.
• Faculty provide funding through a variety of external agencies and industry partners. Contact our faculty   to learn more about these funding opportunities.

For more funding options, visit the College of Graduate Studies’ funding website .

• Clubs & Organizations

Our college offers 20+ clubs and organizations tied to international and national engineering organizations, including national competition teams.

Learn about clubs related to your major:

• American Institute of Chemical Engineers (ASABE)
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• Humanitarian Engineering Corps (HEC)
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• Job Openings and Salary Range
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Advanced Nuclear Studies

Earn your doctorate in a program that provides the advanced technical education and quality research experiences you need to work in pollution-free energy. You may specialize in nuclear fuel processing, materials, radioactive waste treatment and management, thermal behavior and measurement, nuclear systems design and modeling or applications of nuclear process heat.

Availability

• Work with leading researchers  at the  Idaho National Laboratory (INL)  and through  CAES , a world-class, collaborative education and research environment where advanced, driven engineering students learn from each other, participate in research and other projects and receive guidance from industry professionals as they seek to solve regional energy challenges that can have an impact on a national level.
• No. 1 Best Value Public University in the West – ranked for the third year in a row by U.S. News and World Report . We’re also the only public university in Idaho to be ranked best value by Forbes , Money , and The Princeton Review .
• Highest Salary Earnings for early- and mid-career undergraduate degree recipients than any other public university in Idaho – Payscale
• Personalized Attention from nationally and internationally recognized faculty and staff through 1-on-1 interaction, mentorship, advising and research collaboration. All faculty  hold Ph.D.s in their field.

Feature: Expanding Research for Nuclear Energy

Read About Nuclear Engineering

Meet the Faculty

Nuclear Engineering

2024 Best Nuclear Engineering Doctor's Degree Schools

Choosing a great nuclear engineering school for your doctor's degree, quality overall is important, average earnings, other factors we consider, more ways to rank nuclear engineering schools, best schools for doctorate students to study nuclear engineering in the united states, 10 top schools for a doctorate in nuclear engineering, nuclear engineering by region.

Other Rankings

Best bachelor's degrees in nuclear engineering, best overall in nuclear engineering, highest paid grads in nuclear engineering, best for veterans in nuclear engineering, most popular in nuclear engineering, most focused in nuclear engineering, best master's degrees in nuclear engineering, best value in nuclear engineering, best for non-traditional students in nuclear engineering, best online in nuclear engineering, most popular online in nuclear engineering, rankings in majors related to nuclear engineering, nuclear engineering concentrations.

Most Popular Majors Related to Nuclear Engineering

Notes and References

Popular reports, compare your school options.

Direct to Ph.D. Program - Nuclear Engineering - Purdue University

Direct Ph.D. Program

The Direct Ph.D. Program is available for students with outstanding academic records. This program enables students entering with a bachelor's degree to obtain the Ph.D degree without investing time in preparing a formal master's degree thesis or project report. It also allows greater flexibility in course selection and research planning. The following steps are required for admission to this program:

• Pass the Ph.D. Qualifying Exam
• Petition to enter the Direct Ph.D. Program by the student to the Graduate Committee with accompanying recommendation from the student's advisor.
• Review by Graduate Committee (based on performance in the qualifying examination, academic record, and the recommendation from the student's advisor)
• Formal notification to the student

To receive a master's degree in the Direct Ph.D. Program, students must adhere to all of the procedures and requirements set forth by the Graduate School. The master's degree will be conferred to students in this program upon successful completion of the Ph.D. preliminary examination and submission of an acceptable master's plan of study. The master's plan of study must be submitted in the semester prior to preliminary examination in order to receive the degree at the end of that semester. This master's program is considered to be a non-thesis option.

Nuclear Science and Engineering

77 Massachusetts Avenue Building 24-102A Cambridge MA, 02139

617-253-3814 [email protected] 

Website: Nuclear Science and Engineering

Application Opens: September 15

Deadline: December 15 at 11:59 PM Eastern Time

Fee: $90.00

Terms of Enrollment

Interdisciplinary programs, standardized tests.

Graduate Record Examination (GRE)

• General test is optional for the 2023-2024 admissions cycle
• Institute code: 3514

International English Language Testing System (IELTS)

• Minimum score required: 7
• Electronic scores send to: MIT Graduate Admissions

Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)

• Minimum score required: 90 (iBT) 577 (PBT)

Cambridge English Qualification (C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency)

• Minimum score required: 185

Areas of Research

• Accelerators, Detectors & Nuclear Security
• Fission Reactor and Fuel Cycle Engineering
• Fusion and Plasma Physics (theory/ computation)
• Fusion and Plasma Physics (experiment/engineering)
• Materials (theory/computation and experiment)
• Quantum Engineering

Application Requirements

• Online application
• Statement of objectives
• Three letters of recommendation
• Transcripts
• English proficiency exam scores
• CV or Resume

Special Instructions

Applicants who wish to apply for the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) or the Computational Science and Engineering (CSE) joint programs should complete the application for that program.

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GRADUATE : Degree Programs

The Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering offers the following degree programs. Please click the link to find out the requirements for each program.

Doctoral degree

The objectives of the program of study leading to the doctoral degree are to provide the student with comprehensive knowledge of nuclear science and engineering and to develop the student's competence in conducting original research. Doctoral Degree Requirements

Master of Science degree

The object of the Master's degree program is to give the student as thorough a knowledge of some phase of nuclear engineering as can be obtained in a minimum of one academic year of full-time study. The Master's program may serve either as the first part of the student's work for a more advanced degree or as training for professional employment in nuclear engineering. Master of Science Degree Requirements

LGO-NSE Dual MBA-Masters of Science Program

The objective of this program is to offer students the opportunity to leverage tools they learn in the Sloan School of Management and the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering to become innovative business leaders with the technical skills to implement complex operations and technology solutions in the nuclear field. Students admitted to this program will earn two degrees in two years as part of the Leaders for Global Operations (LGO) Program at MIT. Students will earn a Masters of Science in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and an MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management. Applications for the dual degree program are accepted at the LGO website. LGO-NSE Dual MBA-Masters of Science Program Requirements

• Diversity & Equity
• Accessibility
• MIT Nuclear Reactor Lab
• School of Engineering

Department of Nuclear Science & Engineering

Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, 24-107 ( map ) Cambridge, MA 02139 [email protected]

What are your chances of acceptance?

Calculate for all schools, your chance of acceptance.

Your chancing factors

Extracurriculars.

The List of All U.S Colleges With a Nuclear Engineering Major

Nuclear engineers fulfill a key function in society, addressing environmental challenges and developing new types of energy. Not only can a degree in nuclear engineering prepare you to take part in this exciting field, but it can also give you the knowledge and training needed to safeguard people’s health and safety along the way. If changing the world by revolutionizing energy is your goal, a degree in nuclear engineering might be the way to go.

So what do colleges look for in prospective nuclear engineering majors? Read on for a complete list of schools with this program, along with tips on being accepted.

Why Should You Major in Nuclear Engineering in College?

Because nuclear engineering is a relatively new field, a relatively small number of schools currently offer a specific major program. However, the fact that this is a young industry also means that there are plenty of exciting opportunities to make a difference while earning a living. By studying subjects like applied mathematics, radiation, fusion, and thermal-hydraulics, students will learn the best ways of harnessing nuclear energy for power and develop techniques for utilizing radiation. The possibilities for society — and your career — are virtually endless.

So what industries employ nuclear engineers? Currently, graduates of nuclear engineering programs find positions in power plants, research laboratories, and offices. They work for consulting services, colleges, and government agencies. And with Salary.com reporting that nuclear engineers have a pay range of $69,871 to $85,580, there’s a good chance that graduates of this field will see a solid return on their academic investment.

How Can You Boost Your Odds of Getting Accepted Into a Nuclear Engineering Program?

Because nuclear engineering programs feature a great deal of math and science, students need to start studying STEM topics while still in high school if they hope to be competitive. Most admissions committees favor students who have completed four years of high school math by graduation. Other courses to consider adding to your curriculum include lab sciences like biology, chemistry, physics, and earth science. If your school offers honors and AP classes in the sciences, it’s best to sign up for these as well. The goal is to take advantage of all the opportunities available to you at the high school level.

If you want to impress admissions committees, it’s not enough to boast a high GPA. You also need to pack your resume with extracurriculars in the science and math fields. Some of the best high school activities for aspiring nuclear engineers include math club, physics club, science bowl, coding club, and Science National Honor Society. Additionally, participating in STEM oriented pre-college summer programs can be a great way to showcase your passion for the field.

It’s important not to wait until senior year of high school to start preparing for your college applications. Designed to help freshmen and sophomores get a head start on their academic journeys, CollegeVine’s Early Advising Program pairs students with knowledgeable mentors who attended top 30 institutions. Whether you need help choosing the right classes or selecting extracurriculars to complement your career goals, our mentors will be in your corner.

What Colleges Have a Nuclear Engineering Major?

Only a handful of schools across the country currently offer a nuclear engineering major. Below is a complete list of U.S. colleges and universities with nuclear engineering programs:

Georgia Institute of Technology | Georgia Tech

Missouri University of Science & Technology | Missouri S&T

New Jersey Institute of Technology | NJIT

Norfolk State University | NSU

Pace University

Pennsylvania State University | PSU

Purdue University

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | RPI

Texas A&M University

United States Military Academy | Army

University of California, Berkeley | UC Berkeley

University of Michigan

University of New Mexico | UNM

University of Tennessee

University of Texas of the Permian Basin | UT Permian Basin

University of Utah

University of Wisconsin-Madison | Wisconsin

Curious about your chances of acceptance to your dream school? Our free chancing engine takes into account your GPA, test scores, extracurriculars, and other data to predict your odds of acceptance at over 500 colleges across the U.S. We’ll also let you know how you stack up against other applicants and how you can improve your profile. Sign up for your free CollegeVine account today to get started!

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Nuclear Engineering & Radiological Sciences

Sustainable energy solutions, nuclear security and nonproliferation, plasmas for water treatment, the country’s most powerful laser, and more., nuclear leaders and best.

NERS is consistently ranked as the top Nuclear Engineering grad program in the nation by U.S. News and World Report .

Undergraduate to Faculty Ratio

Most of our undergrads are actively involved in research and have co-authored papers in scientific journals.

2023 Research Funding

Research opportunities abound for our undergraduate students, graduate students, postdocs, and faculty.

James Duderstadt’s impact on NERS

Duderstadt helped shape the department into a powerhouse of computational methods development for neutron transport and reactor physics research.

NERS hosts Harper Academy 4 Future Nuclear Engineers

The four-week residential program prepared rising twelfth graders for nuclear engineering careers through comprehensive academic and practical experiences.

Ricardo Lopez wins award for augmented reality visualization for nuclear inspections paper

The NERS graduate student was given the Nonproliferation and Arms Control Division award at the 2024 Institute of Nuclear Materials Management Conference.

Ikhwan Khaleb presents paper at ICONE in Prague

The recent NERS Master’s graduate presented his paper, “CFD Analysis of Heat Transfer in Molten Salt Fuel Chambers of The Wielenga Innovation Static Salt Reactor.”

Give to NERS

Your donation will help train the next generation of nuclear engineers, and radiological and plasma scientists.

NERS Resources

Info and resources for NERS students, faculty, postdocs, and staff.

About the Field

What can you study at NERS? Nuclear engineering goes well beyond nuclear power.

Why You Should Consider a Degree in Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering

overall ranking among graduate nuclear engineering programs in the nation U.S. News & World Report, 2024 Rankings

Liebenberg unveils groundbreaking textbook on energy systems

• August 13, 2024

New paper from Alam group examines sensor degradation, the missing piece in nuclear plant monitoring

"I never planned to not be involved": Ruzic says goodbye to teaching after 40 years

• July 15, 2024

"Dusting off the cobwebs": NPRE's Katy Huff returns to academia after time at Department of Energy

• June 24, 2024

SoTeRiA Laboratory teams up with law school to analyze risk-informed regulation of advanced nuclear reactors

• May 9, 2024

Novak uses country's best supercomputers to tackle new research projects

• May 7, 2024

New Faces of NPRE

NPRE has hired five new faculty this year. With varying research interests and backgrounds, these additions will help bring the department into the future and raise NPRE to new heights.

Read all about them

Ruzic and IPI featured in Limitless

NPRE professor David Ruzic and his Illinois Plasma Institute have been featured in the Fall 2023 issue of Limitless, the Grainger College of Engineering's biannual magazine. In the article, Ruzic talks about IPI's mission to "rethink existing pathways to commercialization of new technologies developed in academic research settings.”

Read the Story

Liebenberg leads sustainability competition

NPRE professor Leon Liebenberg is the co-founder and organizer of the Reimagine Our Future sustainability competition, which recently brought students, faculty, and staff in Illinois and around the world to the UIUC campus. The event aims to inspire and empower students by challenging them to ideate solutions for a more sustainable world.    

Nuclear-Powered UIUC

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, working with Ultra Safe Nuclear Corporation, is working on a project that would bring a microreactor to campus. 

Keep up with the project here

Nuclear, Plasma & Radiological Engineering (NPRE) Admitted Student Info Session

ADMITTED  STUDENTS: Sign up below for an Admitted Student Info Sessions, where you can learn more about the department and how to prepare for your first semester. Registration links  will go to your My Illini account. The links are calendar view, so you will get to choose which date to register for once in your My Illini account.  

Admitted students registration  

Grainger Engineering's Plan a Visit (for admitted and prospective students)

Illinois Plasma Institute leads new era of translational research

Combining the best of both worlds, IPI provides a space where forward-thinking industrial partners are able to pair their own research and development staff with academic researchers closer to the underlying science behind a new technology.

Looking for a Postdoc opportunity?

NPRE has multiple positions open for postdoctoral research.

Energize Your Future Faculty Career, Here.

Join our highly-ranked department. NPRE is currently hiring for multiple open-rank faculty positions.

More NPRE Videos

Featured Faculty

Caleb brooks.

Associate Professor

An experimentalist who focuses on multiphase flow and heat transfer, Professor Brooks believes his modeling and experimental work will be a complement in developing and validating the equations that computer experts use in nuclear reactor system simulations. The work that Brooks does also can have applications for fusion energy, where extreme heat fluxes present challenges in cooling components; aerospace, in which microgravity conditions complicate traditional approaches to heat transfer; and oil and gas transport, in which fluid fluctuations and build-up of gas in pipes impacts system effectiveness and structural integrity.

Apply to Become an NPRE Faculty member

Get the Reddit app

Nuclear engineering.

For physicists and physics students. See the rules before posting, and the subreddit wiki for common questions. Basic homework questions are not allowed.

I Am A, where the mundane becomes fascinating and the outrageous suddenly seems normal.

Hey Reddit! I’ve worked at the U.S. Air Force Weapons Laboratory, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Strategic Air Command. Now I own my own laboratory, and I’m trying to solve the world’s energy problems.

I'm currently doing research and development on a solid state battery, and the Johnson Thermoelectric Energy Converter [JTEC] ( http://johnsonems.com/ ) - which converts heat directly to electricity with no moving mechanical parts.

I also sponsor several [Georgia FIRST] ( https://gafirst.org/ ) robotic teams at my facility through my non-profit - The Johnson STEM Activity Center.

A picture of me was posted to Reddit this week, and it made it to the front page. I'm brand new to Reddit, but I'm told that is pretty cool.

I'm here to answer your questions for the next few hours.

Proof: https://imgur.com/gallery/MGUQl

EDIT: Thank you all so much! I look forward to interacting with you all more in the future. Press on!

Hey everyone, I am sophomore majoring in Computer Engineering and I honestly regret my decision, I have lost most of my motivation as far as programming goes and it just seems too saturated.

As a result of this, I am considering at the very least minoring in Nuclear Engineering as it has always interested me and I'm a physics guy. I am also minoring in Math. Changing my entire major might not be the right move for me however I am considering it, but does anyone have any insight on whether or not I will be able to get into the Nuclear field with just the minor and a CE major?

I have a PhD in nuclear engineering and a decade of radiation detector R&D experience. Ask me anything about radiation detection or any related topic, like nuclear energy, X-ray imaging, or anything else you can think of and I'll do my best to answer.

I'll answer as many questions as I can today and tomorrow, starting now.

You can read more about my most recent project here, there's also a little bit of general information there:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/bettergeiger/better-geiger-radiation-detector?ref=537ahm

Here there is also some more general information (see "Understanding Radiation"):

https://www.bettergeiger.com/

The requested proof that it's really me is here (you can also see me on the kickstarter page):

https://imgur.com/a/EEOtDOz

I did some AMAs a few months ago while it was still being developed and the feedback I got was extremely valuable to the process. A few things have evolved since then - at the time there was no energy-compensation in the dose calculation, but as time went on I learned that this was a really necessary feature, so I added it on. The screen is also bigger with a far richer range of display options. Some other smaller things changed as well but the basic idea is the same.

EDIT: I almost forgot, follow me on Twitter! :) https://twitter.com/BetterGeiger

This is a place for engineering students of any discipline to discuss study methods, get homework help, get job search advice, and find a compassionate ear when you get a 40% on your midterm after studying all night.

This sub helped me out a few years ago and Id like to offer reassurance to whoever needs it

Degrees: Nuclear x2 Debt on graduation: ~90k, its gone now thankfully Current Job: Mix of reactor design and data science stuff

idk what yall are interested in but ask me anything about employed engineer life or getting through college bc it was rough for me too but hey its working out

You learn something new every day; what did you learn today? Submit interesting and specific facts about something that you just found out here.

19, 2 years into college

Asking you guys, considering that my hope for a career is to be part of the advancement of nuclear power across the US and the globe, whether that be

the continuation of existing fission reactors,

new fission reactors with new features like running off existing waste, the small and modular, new types like molten salt, or the replacement of natural gas or coal segments of plants with reactors,

or the development, commercialization and proliferation of nuclear fusion reactors

should I set myself up with a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering and get workforce experience? Or should I go further and get a Ph D in nuclear engineering/physics? Whats more in demand right now across the whole job market?

The best of reddit comments

This community is a place to share and discuss new scientific research. Read about the latest advances in astronomy, biology, medicine, physics, social science, and more. Find and submit new publications and popular science coverage of current research.

Hi! We are Nuclear Engineering professors at the University of California, Berkeley. We are excited to talk about issues related to nuclear science and technology with you. We will each be using our own names, but we have matching flair. Here is a little bit about each of us:

Joonhong Ahn 's research includes performance assessment for geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high level radioactive wastes and safegurdability analysis for reprocessing of spent nuclear fuels. Prof. Ahn is actively involved in discussions on nuclear energy policies in Japan and South Korea.

Max Fratoni conducts research in the area of advanced reactor design and nuclear fuel cycle. Current projects focus on accident tolerant fuels for light water reactors, molten salt reactors for used fuel transmutation, and transition analysis of fuel cycles.

Eric Norman does basic and applied research in experimental nuclear physics. His work involves aspects of homeland security and non-proliferation, environmental monitoring, nuclear astrophysics, and neutrino physics. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. In addition to being a faculty member at UC Berkeley, he holds appointments at both Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

Per Peterson performs research related to high-temperature fission energy systems, as well as studying topics related to the safety and security of nuclear materials and waste management. His research in the 1990's contributed to the development of the passive safety systems used in the GE ESBWR and Westinghouse AP-1000 reactor designs.

Rachel Slaybaugh ’s research is based in numerical methods for neutron transport with an emphasis on supercomputing. Prof. Slaybaugh applies these methods to reactor design, shielding, and nuclear security and nonproliferation. She also has a certificate in Energy Analysis and Policy.

Kai Vetter ’s main research interests are in the development and demonstration of new concepts and technologies in radiation detection to address some of the outstanding challenges in fundamental sciences, nuclear security, and health. He leads the Berkeley RadWatch effort and is co-PI of the newly established KelpWatch 2014 initiative. He just returned from a trip to Japan and Fukushima to enhance already ongoing collaborations with Japanese scientists to establish more effective means in the monitoring of the environmental distribution of radioisotopes

We will start answering questions at 2 pm EDT (11 am WDT, 6 pm GMT), post your questions now!

EDIT 4:45 pm EDT (1:34 pm WDT):

Thanks for all of the questions and participation. We're signing off now. We hope that we helped answer some things and regret we didn't get to all of it. We tried to cover the top questions and representative questions. Some of us might wrap up a few more things here and there, but that's about it. Take Care.

Focus on peaceful use of nuclear energy tech, economics, news, and climate change.

Not sure if this is even the right sub for this question, but is this a good major to pick? I've heard people say things like "pick a more broad major for undergrad and do nuke in college". Is that true? Would electrical engineering better help prepare me, or mechanical? Or should I just major in nuclear engineering for undergraduate? Also, the BLS labor statistics show a decrease in potential jobs, is that something to be worried about? I’m just nervous about paying a boatload of money and a lot of time for a degree that might not get me a high paying job or something (not really sure about this, i just really need insight/advice). Also, I was wondering if this information regarding advancements on fusion would potentially change any past answers on this https:// apnews.com/article/fusion-nuclear-john-kerry-cop28- climate-power-energy-40ffa257eae528163f68554368cacfee

I just got out the navy did 6 and out on a boat I was looking in to get an nuclear engineering technology degree through excelsior so I can become an Health physicist is it worth it or should I just keep swinging meters and get something else for like project management?

I was perusing Indeed UK for nuclear engineering jobs out of curiosity and was shocked at how low the salaries are. Like £60k for what seemed to be mid career jobs. I was expecting lower salaries but not that dramatically lower. Is this typical for engineers in the UK?

Hey everyone. Recently, I’ve been looking into nuclear engineering and it seems like something I would want to pursue as my career. Could anyone, as a professional, provide some insights? Such as work schedules, pay, difficulty, stress, interest levels, education and etc? This will greatly affect my future choices. Thanks all!

Discussion and news on advancements in the field of nuclear fusion energy and related technologies.

A place to share anything related to Texas A&M and the surrounding area.

Is anyone here taking Nuclear Engineering and would like to explain the major and what’s the classes are like?

For legal reasons I should clarify that I am not yet licensed, and should not represent myself as a true "engineer". However, it makes for too long of a title. I have an engineering degree in nuclear engineering, work in an engineering role at a nuclear power plant, but have not yet completed the required work experience to receive my license. For this reason, as well as to avoid any potential issues with my employer, I have used a throwaway account. I hope you understand.

Given the events in Japan, I expect many questions specific to Fukushima 1. I can offer opinions and musings, but I have no special access to facts that you do not. What I can offer is the understanding of the technology involved and an educated interpretation of what little information is available.

Finally, while this is an AMA, there are questions that I will have to refuse to answer. Don't bother asking me about anything security related, for example.

edit - Thank you all for the questions, I've been very happy to answer them as best I can, as quickly as I can. It is most refreshing to find that most people are genuinely curious, rather than hostile to nuclear power. It is getting late, and I have been at this all day. I hope you won't mind if I take a break for the evening. I'll check back in in the morning.

Hi guys, I’m a military member and I’m debating whether or not to get my masters in Nuclear Engineering or something else (such as Mechanical or Materials engineering). I love the opportunities available within the military surrounding nuclear engineering, but I’m concerned about the opportunities after I leave the military. How abundant are the jobs out there? Will I have the opportunity to live somewhere besides a remote place in the southwest? Would it be a better bet to get a more broad engineering degree (that I’m still interested in) so that I have more freedom after I leave the military? Thanks!

The gathering place for mechanical engineers to discuss current technology, methods, jobs, and anything else related to mechanical engineering.

I'm currently looking to apply for an engineering degree next year and i have been most inclined to pick mechanical engineering and have been for many years now. But recently i have been tempted by the nuclear engineering salarys and as I can't find many good nuclear engineering degrees anywhere, I was wondering can a person the a degree in mechanical engineering work as a nuclear engineer?

I'll be starting college this fall, and trying to see which of the three engineering majors I included at the top would put me in the best position to work in the nuclear industry. Perhaps I should also double major or minor in a hard science (physics, chem?).

Thank you! Any tips appreciated.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/i-became-a-nuclear-engineer-because-of-my-climate-concerns/article_1bc97c50-e091-11ee-a2d4-03fafabaa23f.amp.html

So my child is a young adult (20ish) and is fascinated with nuclear engineering. We’ve rewatched Chernobyl. We’ve watched Kyle Hills whole nuclear series. They just saw Oppenheimer. Now they want to watch more and I don’t know what to suggest.

Does anyone have recommendations for the early days of the work? The first reactor designs and how they were built?

I would prefer good quality and good reputability (NOVA like).

I have a BS and MEng in electrical eng and CS, and a PhD in neural engineering working with brain-machine interfaces. After working in corp R&D for the past 4 years made me realize I no longer care about the topic (intellectually stale, surrounded by hype and incompetent careerists) and I was solving first-world problems that I can no longer relate (i.e. AR/VR, smart home device control, novel HCI, etc).

I've taken a big interest in energy and specifically nuclear energy generation, and trying to figure out what would be the best way to move into this field.

My experience has been in neural/bio signals acquisition, microcontrollers, application programming, signal processing, statistical modeling and machine learning and inference applied to biosignals.

My electrical engineering background was in IC design and semiconductor fabrication, skills have gotten rusty and I've never done a lot of power electronics, which seems to be the EE jobs I've seen advertised on nuke startups.

I'm good at computational modeling and ML, but don't know much about plasma physics, thermal/fluid dynamics or structural mechanics.

What might be a good career path for me to break into the field? I am now too old for the Navy nuke school path. I've thought about doing a MS in Nuke, but not sure how much value that would provide.

I've read that the job prospect for commercial fission plants is heavily government policy dependent, those in the know -- do you see this changing in the future, given the energy shortage and rising climate concerns? With a lot of nuclear startups in both fission/fusion popping up and receiving positive news coverage recently, does the field see this as an oncoming expansion or temporary hype?

Anyone in this community have good recommendations for Nuclear companies with good company culture and work-life balance? I'm looking for remote opportunities, life preference, and I've heard some horror stories from fellow coworkers about Westinghouse. Part of the Nuclear layoffs with X-Energy and NuScale, restrict opportunities. Looking to get in the door with a good company. My focus is in Materials Engineering and Mechanical Engineering.

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Study of disordered rock salts leads to battery breakthrough

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For the past decade, disordered rock salt has been studied as a potential breakthrough cathode material for use in lithium-ion batteries and a key to creating low-cost, high-energy storage for everything from cell phones to electric vehicles to renewable energy storage.

A new MIT study is making sure the material fulfills that promise.

Led by Ju Li, the Tokyo Electric Power Company Professor in Nuclear Engineering and professor of materials science and engineering, a team of researchers describe a new class of partially disordered rock salt cathode, integrated with polyanions — dubbed disordered rock salt-polyanionic spinel, or DRXPS — that delivers high energy density at high voltages with significantly improved cycling stability.

“There is typically a trade-off in cathode materials between energy density and cycling stability … and with this work we aim to push the envelope by designing new cathode chemistries,” says Yimeng Huang, a postdoc in the Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering and first author of a paper describing the work published today in Nature Energy . “(This) material family has high energy density and good cycling stability because it integrates two major types of cathode materials, rock salt and polyanionic olivine, so it has the benefits of both.”

Importantly, Li adds, the new material family is primarily composed of manganese, an earth-abundant element that is significantly less expensive than elements like nickel and cobalt, which are typically used in cathodes today.

“Manganese is at least five times less expensive than nickel, and about 30 times less expensive than cobalt,” Li says. “Manganese is also the one of the keys to achieving higher energy densities, so having that material be much more earth-abundant is a tremendous advantage.”

A possible path to renewable energy infrastructure

That advantage will be particularly critical, Li and his co-authors wrote, as the world looks to build the renewable energy infrastructure needed for a low- or no-carbon future.

Batteries are a particularly important part of that picture, not only for their potential to decarbonize transportation with electric cars, buses, and trucks, but also because they will be essential to addressing the intermittency issues of wind and solar power by storing excess energy, then feeding it back into the grid at night or on calm days, when renewable generation drops.

Given the high cost and relative rarity of materials like cobalt and nickel, they wrote, efforts to rapidly scale up electric storage capacity would likely lead to extreme cost spikes and potentially significant materials shortages.

“If we want to have true electrification of energy generation, transportation, and more, we need earth-abundant batteries to store intermittent photovoltaic and wind power,” Li says. “I think this is one of the steps toward that dream.”

That sentiment was shared by Gerbrand Ceder, the Samsung Distinguished Chair in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Research and a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of California at Berkeley.

“Lithium-ion batteries are a critical part of the clean energy transition,” Ceder says. “Their continued growth and price decrease depends on the development of inexpensive, high-performance cathode materials made from earth-abundant materials, as presented in this work.”

Overcoming obstacles in existing materials

The new study addresses one of the major challenges facing disordered rock salt cathodes — oxygen mobility.

While the materials have long been recognized for offering very high capacity — as much as 350 milliampere-hour per gram — as compared to traditional cathode materials, which typically have capacities of between 190 and 200 milliampere-hour per gram, it is not very stable.

The high capacity is contributed partially by oxygen redox, which is activated when the cathode is charged to high voltages. But when that happens, oxygen becomes mobile, leading to reactions with the electrolyte and degradation of the material, eventually leaving it effectively useless after prolonged cycling.

To overcome those challenges, Huang added another element — phosphorus — that essentially acts like a glue, holding the oxygen in place to mitigate degradation.

“The main innovation here, and the theory behind the design, is that Yimeng added just the right amount of phosphorus, formed so-called polyanions with its neighboring oxygen atoms, into a cation-deficient rock salt structure that can pin them down,” Li explains. “That allows us to basically stop the percolating oxygen transport due to strong covalent bonding between phosphorus and oxygen … meaning we can both utilize the oxygen-contributed capacity, but also have good stability as well.”

That ability to charge batteries to higher voltages, Li says, is crucial because it allows for simpler systems to manage the energy they store.

“You can say the quality of the energy is higher,” he says. “The higher the voltage per cell, then the less you need to connect them in series in the battery pack, and the simpler the battery management system.”

Pointing the way to future studies

While the cathode material described in the study could have a transformative impact on lithium-ion battery technology, there are still several avenues for study going forward.

Among the areas for future study, Huang says, are efforts to explore new ways to fabricate the material, particularly for morphology and scalability considerations.

“Right now, we are using high-energy ball milling for mechanochemical synthesis, and … the resulting morphology is non-uniform and has small average particle size (about 150 nanometers). This method is also not quite scalable,” he says. “We are trying to achieve a more uniform morphology with larger particle sizes using some alternate synthesis methods, which would allow us to increase the volumetric energy density of the material and may allow us to explore some coating methods … which could further improve the battery performance. The future methods, of course, should be industrially scalable.”

In addition, he says, the disordered rock salt material by itself is not a particularly good conductor, so significant amounts of carbon — as much as 20 weight percent of the cathode paste — were added to boost its conductivity. If the team can reduce the carbon content in the electrode without sacrificing performance, there will be higher active material content in a battery, leading to an increased practical energy density.

“In this paper, we just used Super P, a typical conductive carbon consisting of nanospheres, but they’re not very efficient,” Huang says. “We are now exploring using carbon nanotubes, which could reduce the carbon content to just 1 or 2 weight percent, which could allow us to dramatically increase the amount of the active cathode material.”

Aside from decreasing carbon content, making thick electrodes, he adds, is yet another way to increase the practical energy density of the battery. This is another area of research that the team is working on.

“This is only the beginning of DRXPS research, since we only explored a few chemistries within its vast compositional space,” he continues. “We can play around with different ratios of lithium, manganese, phosphorus, and oxygen, and with various combinations of other polyanion-forming elements such as boron, silicon, and sulfur.”

With optimized compositions, more scalable synthesis methods, better morphology that allows for uniform coatings, lower carbon content, and thicker electrodes, he says, the DRXPS cathode family is very promising in applications of electric vehicles and grid storage, and possibly even in consumer electronics, where the volumetric energy density is very important.

This work was supported with funding from the Honda Research Institute USA Inc. and the Molecular Foundry at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and used resources of the National Synchrotron Light Source II at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory. 

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• Department of Materials Science and Engineering
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Related Topics

• Lithium-ion
• Nuclear science and engineering
• Renewable energy
• Energy storage
• Transportation
• Nanoscience and nanotechnology
• Department of Energy (DoE)

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