Nuclear Power Engineering

NPRE 402

Dr. Magdi Ragheb
Spring 2026

Meets Campus Instructional Facility CIF 2035

Disclaimer: Potential Security Risk Ahead. Protection against rampant Intellectual Property Theft, IPT.
Unauthorized access may result in malware infections.
Your computer clock may be set to the wrong time.

Course Information: NPRE 402

Department: Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering
Recommended: Textbook
Credit: 3 credit hours, undergraduates,
4 credit hours, 1 unit for graduate students; with extra term project or paper.

Professor

Taught by: Professor M. Ragheb, Ph. D.

Teaching Evaluations:

DRES STUDENTS

"If you are requesting DRES accommodation, it is your responsibility to reach out to DRES in time and make arrangements to take your exams at DRES on the same day and at the same time as the rest of the class. DRES does not accommodate late requests. DRES needs a week of advance notice to accommodate your request. Students must register for their exam one week prior to the date of the exam. Dates and times of all exams are announced in advance. Accomodation at DRES will be provided at same day and time as rest of the class."

Assignments, exams and Teaching Assistants

Assignments and attendance will account for 40 percent of the final grade.

Assignments Policy and Guidelines

In case of "Internet Rationing" or collapse through overload,
1. Final grades will be based on submitted assignments and on tests taken,
2. Reading of web-published lecture notes will substitute for scheduled synchronous online lecture sessions.

Assignments
List of assignments, pdf
List of assignments, Word

Teaching Assistants Information

LECTURE VIDEOS ON ILLINOIS MEDIA SPACE

Spring 2026 0ne-hour lectures videos
Lecture 1
Preface
10. Artemis Lunar and Mars Nuclear Power
https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/media/t/1_5aj7q7qz/399156623
https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/media/t/1_qpyi7ggq/395463403
Lecture 2
Preface
https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/media/t/1_fvnmdayy/399156623
https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/media/t/1_zqmz0cfq/395463403
Lecture 3
1. First Human Made Reactor and Birth of Nuclear Age
https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/media/t/1_0fwol1a6/399156623
https://mediaspace.illinois.edu/media/t/1_ukns8xa6/395463403

Play List
Two-hour Lecture videos Summer Session 2023
https://www.youtube.com/@dr.magdiragheb.nuclearscie1278/playlists

Other videos
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCojdseVcRM185IrViNyT83w/featured
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBmYNDivSxUgCpyNnW8UWHQ

EXAMS

NPRE 402 First Midterm.
Monday February 23, First Midterm Exam. During class period
NPRE 402 Second Midterm.
Monday, April 6, Second Midterm Exam. During class period
NPRE 402 Final Exam
Wednesday May 6, Last day of classes, during class period
~~(1:30-4:30 p.m., Thursday, May 14)~~

Course Outline

Tests

Two midterm tests and one final test are scheduled.

Each will account for 20 percent of the final grade for a total of 60 percent of the final grade.

Assignments, mandatory attendance, quizzes (unannounced), final project, 40 percent.

Prerequisites: Advanced calculus course, consent of instructor.

Undergraduates: 3 units of credit.

Graduates: 3 units, plus 1 unit for advanced term paper or project, for a total of 4 units of credit.

Calendar for Spring Session, 2026
Nuclear Power Engineering: NPRE 402
Course Information, Spring 2026, https://courses.illinois.edu/schedule/2026/spring/NPRE/402
Time: MWF 11:00-11:50 am, Meets 01/20/2026-05/06/2026,
Location: 3035 Campus Instructial Facility, synchronous face-to-face registrations, attendance required

Martin Luther King Jr. Day	Monday January 19 (No classes)
Instruction begins	Tuesday January 20
Spring Break Begins Instruction Resumes	Saturday March 14 (1:00 pm) Monday March 23 (7:00 am)
Instruction ends	Wednesday May 6
Reading Day	Thursday May 7
Final Examinations begin Final Examinations end	Friday May 8 Thursday May 14
First Midterm exam	Monday February 23, First Midterm Exam. During class period
Second Midterm exam	Monday, April 6, Second Midterm Exam. During class period
Final Exam	Wednesday May 6, Last day of classes, during class period ~~1:30-4:30 p.m., Thursday, May 14~~
Commencement	Saturday May 16

Book Chapters

Magdi Ragheb (2011). "Nuclear Naval Propulsion,"
Nuclear Power - Deployment, Operation and Sustainability, Pavel Tsvetkov (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-474-0,
InTech, http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/nuclear-naval-propulsion

Magdi Ragheb (2011). "Thorium Fission and Fission-Fusion Fuel Cycle,"
Nuclear Power - Deployment, Operation and Sustainability, Pavel Tsvetkov (Ed.), ISBN: 978-953-307-474-0,
InTech, http://www.intechopen.com/articles/show/title/thorium-fission-and-fission-fusion-fuel-cycle

M. Ragheb and D. Gvillo, "Hybrid Symbolic-Procedural Programming Methodology for Monte Carlo Particle Transport Simulations,"
Science and Engineering on Cray Supercomputers, A Cray Research Inc. Book,
Proc. of the Third International Symposium, Minneapolis, Minnesota, pp. 491-515, September 1987.

Yoshioka, R., Kinoshita, M., Jorgensen, L., & Ragheb, M. (2017). Environment, waste, and resources. In Molten Salt Reactors and Thorium Energy (pp. 231-259). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-101126-3.00009-9

Web Textbook

© M. Ragheb
Intellectual Property IP
https://law.depaul.edu/academics/centers-institutes-initiatives/center-for-intellectual-property-law-and-information-technology/Pages/default.aspx

NUCLEAR AND RADIATION SCIENCE

Inventing the future

© M. Ragheb

Preface

        Part I Dawn of Nuclear age
1. First Human Made Reactor and Birth of Nuclear Age
2. German Nuclear Program
3. Japanese Nuclear Weapons Program
4. Nuclear World
5. Race for The Super
6. Natural Nuclear Reactors, The Oklo Phenomenon
7. Sustainable Energy and Resource Management
8. Safeguards, Non-Proliferation and Peaceful Nuclear Energy
9. The Global Status of Nuclear Power
10. Limited Nuclear War

        Part II Modern Nuclear Science
1. The Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiation Universe
2. Constitution of Matter, The Standard Model
3. Elusive Ghostly Neutrinos
4. Nuclear Processes, The Strong Force
5. Gamma Rays Interaction with Matter

        Part III Radioactive Processes
1. Radioactive Transformations Theory, The Weak Force
2. Food Preservation by Radiation
3. Terrestrial Radioactivity and Geothermal Energy
4. Biogenic and Abiogenic Petroleum
5. Management of Radioactive Waste

        Part IV Fission Systems
1. Nuclear Reactor Concepts and Thermodynamic Cycles
2. Pressurized Water Reactors
3. Boiling Water Reactors
4. High Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor
5. Heavy Water Reactor
6. Fourth Generation Reactor Concepts
7. Fast Breeder Reactors
8. Autonomous Battery Reactors
9. Inherently Safe Reactor Designs
10. Isotopic Separation and Enrichment
11. Traveling Wave Reactor
12. Modular Integral Compact Underground Reactor
13. Underwater Power Plants
14. Floating Nuclear Barges

        Part V Fusion Systems
1. Plasmas and Fusion Reactions
2. Fusion Concepts
3. Inertial Confinement Fusion
4. Magnetic Confinement Fusion
5. Fission Fusion Thorium Hybrid

        Part VI Space Nuclear Power
1. Nuclear and Plasma Space Propulsion
2. Space Power Reactors
3. Radioisotopes Power Production
4. Cosmic and Space Radiation
5. Nuclear Defense Against Stellar Objects
6. Nuclear Propulsion Choices for Space Exploration
7. Solar Storms Effects on Nuclear and Electrical Installations
8. Nuclear Asteroid Mining
9. Nuclear Ramjet and Scramjet Propulsion
10. Artemis Lunar and Mars Nuclear Power

        Part VII Transport and Diffusion Reactor Theory
1. Transport Theory
2. Subcritical Assemblies Theory
3. Neutron Cross Sections
4. Neutron Collision Theory
5. Neutron Diffusion Theory
6. Neutron Diffusion in Nonmultiplying Media
7. One-Group Reactor Theory
8. Point Reactor Kinetics
9. Multidimensional Reactor Systems in Diffusion Theory
10. Numerical Methods for Diffusion Theory Criticality
11. Fermi Age Theory
12. Two Group Diffusion Theory for Bare and Reflected Reactors
13. Analysis of Fast Reactors Systems
14. The Resonance Escape Probability
15. Treatment of Heterogeneous Systems

        Part VIII Radiological Science
1. Radiation Dosimetry
2. Ionizing Radiation Units and Standards
3. Nonionizing Radiation
4. Environmental Radiation
5. Radiation Hormesis
6. Environmental Remediation of Radioactive Contamination
7. Radiobiological Processes
8. Attenuation of Gamma Radiation
9. Gamma and X rays Detection
10. Nuclear Medicine Applications
11. Positron Emission Tomography
12. Nuclear Sterile Insect Technique
13. Depleted Uranium and its Health Physics

       Part IX Nuclear Safety
1. Three Mile Island Accident
2. The Chernobyl Accident
3. Fukushima Earthquake and Tsunami Station Blackout Accident
4. Tritium, Man Made Hydrogen

        Part X Nuclear Applications
1. Energy Hydrogenation and Decarbonization
2. Nuclear Age Elements
3. Global Climatic Variation, Change and Energy Use.
4. Nuclear Marine Propulsion
5. X Ray and Gamma Ray Lasers
6. Zero Point Field Power
7. Fresh Water Augmentation
8. Single and Dual Purpose Nuclear Desalination
9. Pumped Storage in Association with the Dead Sea to Red Sea Peace Canal
10. Uranium Resources in Phosphate Rocks
11. Thorium Resources in Rare Earth Elements
12. Isotope Methods in Water Resources Management
13. Symbiotic Coupling of Wind Power and Nuclear Power Generation
14. Restarting the USA Stalled Nuclear Renaissance

        References

        Appendices
Vector Calculus Relations
List of the Known Elements
Table of Thermal Neutron Cross Sections
Physical Constants and Conversion Factors
Systeme International (SI), Prefixes and Symbols
Greek Alphabet
Natural Nuclides Table
Artificial and Natural Nuclides Table
Procedure for the Generation of a Decay Curve: decay.f90
Procedure for estimating the activity of an irradiated isotope: Isotope_production.f90
One Group Nuclear Criticality Code Listing: criticality.f90
Multigroup Nuclear Criticality Code Listing: multigroup_criticality.f90
Neutron Dosimetry code: neutron_dosimetry.f90
Input data
30 group cross sections: H₂O
30 group cross sections: Na