PE Nuclear case studies
PE Nuclear · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) Nuclear exam is one of more than 20 PE exams administered by NCEES. It is a licensure examination that tests for a minimum level of competency in nuclear engineering, and it is designed for engineers who have gained a minimum of four years of post-college work experience in the discipline - not for students or recent graduates. The PE Nuclear case studies are 5 cases and about 2,076 words.
1RHR Alignment During Post-Trip Cooldown
A four-loop PWR has tripped from 100% power. Two hours later the RCS is at 177°C and 2.60 MPa, steam generator levels are stable, and decay heat is about 22 MW.
496 words, about 2 min2Spent Fuel Rack Criticality Margin Under Accident Condition
A utility proposes moving 12 spent fuel assemblies into a higher-density rack region in the spent fuel pool. The criticality calculation gives k eff = 0.86 for the normal storage condition and k eff = 0.89 for the accident condition in which a fuel assembly is dropped onto the rack.
384 words, about 2 min3RHR Heat Exchanger Fouling and Decay Heat Removal
During a refueling outage, the RHR heat exchanger is tested with the reactor shutdown and decay heat at 18 MW. Primary-side flow is 400 kg/s with cp = 4.30 kJ/kg·K, inlet temperature 120°C.
427 words, about 2 min4Dose Estimate for a Co-60 Valve Maintenance Job
A maintenance job requires two workers to refurbish a valve near a Co-60 source. The measured dose rate is 3.0 mSv/h at 1.0 m from the source.
357 words, about 2 min5Pressurizer Pressure Channel Drift and Tech Spec Action
A PWR has three pressurizer pressure channels, A, B, and C, used in a 2-out-of-3 high-pressure reactor trip. The trip setpoint is 15.55 MPa.
412 words, about 2 min