About the Program

Bachelor of Science (BS)

The program is designed to prepare students for a career in industry, the national laboratories, or in state or federal regulatory agencies. The program, leading to a Bachelor of Science (BS) degree in Nuclear Engineering, emphasizes study in the following areas of nuclear engineering:  nuclear reactions and radiation, introduction to medical imaging, nuclear reactor theory and design, fusion power engineering, radioactive waste management, radiological and biophysics, and nuclear materials.

Many students will go on to complete a one-year master's degree program (the Department does not have a 5th year MS program at this time). Students interested in careers in scientific research or in college teaching go on to complete the doctorate.

Accreditation

This program is accredited by the Engineering Accreditation Commission of ABET .

Admission to the Major

Prospective undergraduates to the College of Engineering will apply for admission to a specific program in the College. For further information, please see the College of Engineering's website .

Admission to Engineering via a Change of College application for current UC Berkeley students is highly unlikely and very competitive as there few, if any, spaces that open in the College each year to students admitted to other colleges at UC Berkeley. For further information regarding a Change of College to Engineering, please see the College's website .

Minor Program

The Department offers a minor in Nuclear Engineering that is open to all students who are not majoring in NE and who have completed the necessary prerequisites for the minor requirements. For information regarding the prerequisites, please see the Minor Requirements tab on this page.

The Nuclear Engineering (NE) minor is open to any undergraduate who satisfies the following requirements:

• Declared a major (not NE) on the UC Berkeley campus
• A cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 at the time of applying
• Completion of the minor must not delay graduation

To apply for the minor, submit the Petition for Admission to the Undergraduate Minor  to the Undergraduate Adviser after completion of the prerequisite courses. Upon completion of the minor requirements. Submit a Petition for Completion of the Undergraduate Minor  to the Undergraduate Adviser.

Joint Majors

The Department of Nuclear Engineering also offers three joint majors with other departments in the College of Engineering and one joint major with a Department in the College of Chemistry. For further information on these programs, please click the links below:
Chemical Engineering/Nuclear Engineering  (Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, College of Chemistry)
Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences/Nuclear Engineering  (Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences)
Materials Science and Engineering/Nuclear Engineering  (Department of Materials Science and Engineering)
Mechanical Engineering/Nuclear Engineering  (Department of Mechanical Engineering)

Visit Department Website

Major Requirements

In addition to the University, campus, and college requirements, listed on the College Requirements tab, students must fulfill the below requirements specific to their major program.

General Guidelines

1. All technical courses (courses in engineering, mathematics, chemistry, physics, statistics, biological sciences, and computer science) must be taken for a letter grade.

2. No more than one upper-division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student’s major and minor programs.

3. A minimum overall grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required for all work undertaken at UC Berkeley.

4. A minimum GPA of 2.0 is required for all technical courses taken in satisfaction of major requirements.

For information regarding residence requirements and unit requirements, please see the College Requirements tab.

For a detailed plan of study by year and semester, please see the Plan of Study tab.

Lower-division Requirements

Upper-division Requirements

Minor Requirements

Minor programs are areas of concentration requiring fewer courses than an undergraduate major. These programs are optional but can provide depth and breadth to a UC Berkeley education. The College of Engineering does not offer additional time to complete a minor, but it is usually possible to finish within the allotted time with careful course planning. Students are encouraged to meet with their ESS Adviser to discuss the feasibility of completing a minor program.

All the engineering departments offer minors. Students may also consider pursuing a minor in another school or college.

General Guidelines

1. All courses taken to fulfill the minor requirements must be taken for graded credit.

2. A minimum overall grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 and a minimum GPA of 3.0 in the prerequisite courses is required for acceptance into the minor program.

3. A minimum grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 is required for courses used to fulfill the minor requirements.

4. No more than one upper-division course may be used to simultaneously fulfill requirements for a student’s major and minor programs.

5. Completion of the minor program cannot delay a student’s graduation.

Lower-division Prerequisites

Upper-division Requirements

College Requirements

Students in the College of Engineering must complete 120 semester units with the following provisions: 

1.        Completion of the requirements of one Engineering major program  of study. 

2.        A minimum overall grade point average of 2.000 (C average) and a minimum 2.000 grade point average in upper division technical course work required of the major. 

3.        The final 30 units must be completed in residence in the College of Engineering on the Berkeley campus in two consecutive semesters. 

4.        All technical courses (math, science & engineering), required of the major or not, must be taken on a letter graded basis (unless they are only offered P/NP). 

5.        Entering freshman are allowed a maximum of eight semesters to complete their degree requirements.  Entering junior transfers are allowed a maximum of four semesters to complete their degree requirements. Summer terms are optional and do not count toward the maximum. Students are responsible for planning and satisfactorily completing all graduation requirements within the maximum allowable semesters. 

Humanities and Social Science Requirement
To promote a rich and varied educational experience outside of the technical requirements for each major, the College of Engineering has a Humanities and Social Sciences breadth requirement, which must be completed to graduate. This requirement is built into all the Engineering programs of study. The requirement includes two approved reading and composition courses and four additional approved courses, within which a number of specific conditions must be satisfied. 

1.        Complete a minimum of six courses (3 units or more) from the approved Humanities/Social Sciences (H/SS) lists . 

2.        Two of the six courses must fulfill the  Reading and Composition Requirement. These courses must be taken for a letter grade (C- or better required), and MUST be completed by no later than the end of the sophomore year (4th semester of enrollment). The first half of R&C, the “A” course, must be completed by the end of the freshman year; the second half of R&C, the “B “course, by no later than the end of the sophomore year. For detailed lists of courses that fulfill Reading and Composition requirements, please see the Reading and Composition page in this bulletin. 

3.        The four additional courses must be chosen from the H/SS comprehensive list. These courses may be taken on a Pass/Not Passed Basis (P/NP).

4.        At least two of the six courses must be upper division (courses numbered 100-196).

5.        At least two courses must be from the same department and at least one of the two must be upper division. This is called the *Series requirement. AP tests can be combined with a course to complete the series requirement. For example, AP History (any) combined with an upper division History course would satisfy the series requirement

6.        One of the six courses must satisfy the campus American Cultures Requirement. For detailed lists of courses that fulfill American Cultures requirements, please see the American Cultures page in this bulletin. 

7.        A maximum of two exams (Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or A-Level) may be used toward completion of the H/SS requirement. Visit this link

8.        No courses offered by an Engineering department (IEOR, CE, etc.) other than BIOE 100, CS C79, ENGIN 125, ENGIN 130AC, 157AC, ME 191K and ME 191AC may be used to complete H/SS requirements.

9.        Courses may fulfill multiple categories. For example, if you complete City and Regional Planning 115 and 118AC that would satisfy the series requirement, the two upper division courses requirement and the American Cultures Requirement.

10.     The College of Engineering (COE) uses modified versions of five of the College of Letters and Science (L&S) breadth requirements lists to provide options to our students for completing the Humanities and Social Science requirement. Our requirement is different than that of L & S, so the guidelines posted on the top of each L & S breadth list do NOT apply to COE students.

11.     Foreign language courses MAY be used to complete H/SS requirements. L & S does not allow students to use many language courses, so their lists will not include all options open to Engineering students. For a list of language options, visit http://coe.berkeley.edu/FL

*NOTE: for the Series Requirement: The purpose of the series requirement is to provide depth of knowledge in a certain area. Therefore, a two-course sequence not in the same department may be approved by petition, in cases in which there is a clear and logical connection between the courses involved. 

Plan of Study

For more detailed information regarding the courses listed below (e.g., elective information, GPA requirements, etc.), please see the Major Requirements tab.

Student Learning Goals

Mission

The mission of the Department of Nuclear Engineering is to maintain and strengthen the University of California's only center of excellence in nuclear engineering education and research and to serve California and the nation by improving and applying nuclear science and technology. The mission of the undergraduate degree program in Nuclear Engineering is to prepare our students to begin a lifetime of technical achievement and professional leadership in academia, government, the national laboratories, and industry.

Learning Goals for the Major

The foundation of the UC Berkeley Nuclear Engineering (NE) program is a set of five key objectives for educating undergraduate students. The NE program continuously reviews these objectives internally to ensure that they meet the current needs of the students, and each spring the Program Advisory Committee meets to review the program and recommend changes to better serve students. The NE Program Advisory Committee was established in 1988 and is composed of senior leaders from industry, the national laboratories, and academia.

Nuclear engineering at UC Berkeley prepares undergraduate students for employment or advanced studies with four primary constituencies: industry, the national laboratories, state and federal agencies, and academia (graduate research programs). Graduate research programs are the dominant constituency. From 2000 to 2005, 68% of graduating NE seniors indicated plans to attend graduate school in their senior exit surveys.  To meet the needs of these constituencies, the objectives of the NE undergraduate program are to produce graduates who as practicing engineers and researchers do the following:

1. Apply solid knowledge of the fundamental mathematics and natural (both physical and biological) sciences that provide the foundation for engineering applications
2. Demonstrate an understanding of nuclear processes, and the application of general natural science and engineering principles to the analysis and design of nuclear and related systems of current and/or future importance to society
3. Exhibit strong, independent learning, analytical and problem solving skills, with special emphasis on design, communication, and an ability to work in teams
4. Demonstrate an understanding of the broad social, ethical, safety and environmental context within which nuclear engineering is practiced
5. Value and practice life-long learning

Courses

Nuclear Engineering

Faculty

Professors

Joonhong Ahn, Professor. Radioactive waste management, mathematical safety assessment of deep geologic repository, transport of radionuclides in geologic formations, environmental impact of severe accidents.
Research Profile

Ehud Greenspan, Professor.

Ka-Ngo Leung, Professor.

Digby D. Macdonald, Professor.

Edward C. Morse, Professor. Applied plasma physics: fusion technology: microwaves, experimental investigation of RF plasma heating, experimental studies of compact toroids spectral method for magnetohydrodynamic stability.
Research Profile

Eric B. Norman, Professor. Nuclear astrophysics, experimental nuclear physics, homeland security, neutrinos.
Research Profile

Per F Peterson, Professor. Heat and mass transfer, safety, nuclear engineering, multiphase transport, thermal hydraulics, nuclear reactor design, radioactive waste, nuclear materials management.
Research Profile

Karl A Van Bibber, Professor.

Kai Vetter, Professor.

Jasmina L. Vujic, Professor. Nuclear engineering, numerical methods in reactor physics, neutron and photon transport, reactor core design and analysis, shielding, radiation protection, biomedical application of radiation, optimization techniques for vector, parallel computers.
Research Profile

Assistant Professors

Massimiliano Fratoni, Assistant Professor.

Peter Hosemann, PhD, Assistant Professor. Microscopy, nanomaterials, Nuclear materials, material science, radiation damage, corrosion in liquid metals, materials development, materials under extremes, nuclear applications, ion beam microscopy, nanoscale mechanical testing.
Research Profile

Rachel Slaybaugh, Assistant Professor.