Nuclear Energy Materials and Reactors is a component of Encyclopedia of Energy Sciences, Engineering and Technology Resources in the global Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), which is an integrated compendium of twenty one Encyclopedias.

Nuclear energy is a type of technology involving the controlled use of nuclear fission to release energy for work including propulsion, heat, and the generation of electricity. The theme on Nuclear Energy Materials and Reactors discusses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Energy; Nuclear Physics; Nuclear Interactions; Nuclear Reactor Theory; Nuclear Reactor Design; Nuclear Reactor Kinetics; Reactivity Changes; Nuclear Power Plants; Pressurized Water Reactors; Boiling Water Reactors; Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors; Heavy Water Light Water Reactors; Advanced Gas Cooled Reactors; Light Water Graphite Reactors; High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactors; Pebble Bed Modular Reactor; Radioactive Wastes, Origins, Classification and Management; Nuclear Reactor Overview and Reactor Cycles; The Nuclear Reactor Closed Cycle; Safety of Boiling Water Reactors; Supercritical Water-Cooled Nuclear Reactors: Review and Status; The Gas-Turbine Modular Helium Reactor; Application of Risk Assessment to Nuclear Power Plants; Production and Recycling Resources for Nuclear Fission. These two volumes are aimed at the following five major target audiences: University and College students Educators, Professional practitioners, Research personnel and Policy analysts, managers, and decision makers.

Editor(s) Biography

Yassin A. Hassan has been at Texas A&M University, College Station, since 1986. He is a professor in the Department of Nuclear Engineering and the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He received his Ph.D. and MS in nuclear engineering from University of Illinois, and MS in mechanical engineering from University of Virginia. Prior to his academic career, he was principal engineer (1980-1986) at Babcock & Wilcox Company’s Nuclear Power Division in Virginia. Hassan has authored/co-authored over 100 refereed papers in various journals and several chapters in books. Hassan is a registered professional engineer in Texas and a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and the American Nuclear Society (ANS). He is also a member of several other societies, and chair of Nuclear Engineering of ASME. Hassan was the recipient of Arthur Holly Compton Award and Thermal Hydraulics Achievement Award of ANS. He has given invited lectures and short courses in the United States, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Belgium and Mexico. He lectured at the recent “Industrial Two-Phase Flow CFD” short course, May 23-2005 at von Karman Institute, Brussels. Hassan's research interest is in the areas of computational and experimental fluid mechanics and turbulence, two-phase flow, laser-based flow visualization and diagnostic imaging techniques, and system modeling.

Robin Chaplin obtained a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from University of Cape Town in 1965 and 1968 respectively. Between these two periods of study he spent two years gaining experience in the operation and maintenance of coal fired power plants in South Africa. He subsequently spent a further year gaining experience on research and prototype nuclear reactors in South Africa and the United Kingdom and obtained M.Sc. in Nuclear Engineering from Imperial College of London University in 1971. On returning to South Africa and taking up a position in the Head Office of Eskom he spent some twelve years initially in project management and then as Head of Steam Turbine Specialists. During this period he was involved with the construction of the 3 x 80 MW Ruacana Hydro Power Station in Namibia and the 2 x 900 MW Koeberg Nuclear Power Station in South Africa being responsible for the underground mechanical equipment and civil structures and for the mechanical balance-of-plant equipment at the respective plants. Continuing his interests in power plant modeling and simulation he obtained a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Queen=s University in Canada in 1986 and was subsequently appointed as Chair in Power Plant Engineering at the University of New Brunswick. Here he teaches thermodynamics and fluid mechanics and specialized courses in nuclear and power plant engineering in the Department of Chemical Engineering. An important function is involvement in the plant operator and shift supervisor training programs at Point Lepreau Nuclear Generating Station. This includes the development of material and the teaching of courses in both nuclear and non-nuclear aspects of the program. He has also been involved with the UNESCO sponsored Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) as Honorary Theme Editor and primary author of the theme on Thermal Power Plants and has also assisted with the theme on Nuclear Energy and Reactors. Altogether he has contributed some three dozen chapters to this major source of international knowledge. As an adjunct professor at Waterloo University he has established and taught a graduate course in power plant thermodynamics to engineers in the nuclear industry as part of the UNENE masters program in Nuclear Engineering. He has served as Acting Chair and Chair in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of New Brunswick and has been a consultant for Canadian Power Utility Services