Nuclear Engineering

Research field abbreviation: JI
Field code: P0533D110050
Course duration: 4 years

Field specializations

• Reactor Studies
• Physics and Technology of Thermonuclear Fusion
• Dosimetry and Applications of Ionizing Radiation
• Experimental Physics and Particle Physics

Research field characteristics

The doctoral programme in Nuclear Engineering prepares graduates for independent creative research in a wide range of fundamental scientific areas of nuclear and particle physics and their industrial applications, especially in nuclear energetics and radiation detection.

The doctoral course in Nuclear Engineering is offered by the Department of Nuclear Reactors, the Department of Dosimetry and Application of Ionizing Radiation, and the Department of Physics.

• The area of Reactor Studies covers reactor physics, applied and experimental nuclear physics, neutron physics, nuclear safety and the relation between nuclear energy and the environment, computational methods and methods of mathematical modelling. It also addresses the issues of control systems, accelerator-driven transmutation technologies and the physics and technology of nuclear fusion.
  
  
• The aim of the Physics and Technology of Thermonuclear Fusion course is to educate experts concerned with controlled release of nuclear energy based on fusion of light isotopes of hydrogen.
  
  
• Dosimetry and Applications of Ionizing Radiation is focused on radiation physics, dosimetry and microdosimetry, interaction of radiation, radioanalytical methods, radiation technology, medical and engineering applications of radionuclides and ionizing radiation, computational and modelling methods, radiation protection and radiation monitoring, and protection of the environment.
  
  
• In the Experimental Nuclear and Particle Physics, experimental physicists are trained in particle physics and nuclear physics, in particular in the issues of construction, operation and evaluation of data from particle detectors in international experiments, as well as in developing their skills in related areas of theoretical physics, particularly with respect to the phenomenology of strongly interacting elementary particles and a description of the quark-gluon plasma.

This PhD programme is offered in cooperation with national and international academic and scientific institutions, i.e. Faculty of Electrical Engineering of the Czech Technical University (FEE CTU), Czech Academy of Sciences (CAS) - Institute of Physics (IP), Nuclear Physics Institute (NPI), and Institute of Plasma Physics (IPP), as well as Nuclear Research Institute Řež (NRI Řež), the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), and GSI Helmholtz Zentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt. Participation of students (internships, data collection) in research at partner institutions is very common.

The PhD course is linked to research activities of individual departments and institutions and their grants.

Graduate's profile

PhD graduates in Nuclear Engineering find positions both as academics at universities, scientific and research institutions and as professional staff in industry, health care institutions and in the state administration bodies, e.g. the National Radiation Protection Institute (NRPI), SONS (an organization assisting the visually impaired), and wherever professionals focused on modern physics and ionising radiation are needed. A high-quality theoretical background and general knowledge in the respective field makes candidates quickly adaptable to facing problems of a very wide range. Therefore, they are ready to respond to challenges of an interdisciplinary nature in international research teams.