In early November 2015, seven students in the “Energy and Environmental Engineering” diploma program at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences took part in a field trip/course / fieldwork to the northern part of Germany on the Baltic Sea to visit facilities that provide impressive real-world examples for the field of study: “Radiation and Nuclear Energy Engineering.” The long trip was well worth it, as the students were able to have their questions answered on site and discover new and interesting facts.
An option for the future? Nuclear fusion research at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Greifswald. Have you ever heard of a stellarator or Wendelstein 7-X? There, magnetic fields for the nuclear fusion plasma will soon be generated using superconducting coils (with helium at -270 °C) to collide deuterium nuclei.
Mr. Rainer Burhenn from the IPP explained the processes involved in an introductory lecture before the group toured the plasma machine.
An enthusiastic student from the ME14 class commented on his first stop as follows: “The field trip to Greifswald was good. I found the visit to the institute very interesting, especially the lecture.”
The decommissioning of nuclear power plants, waste treatment, and interim storage also require outstanding engineering achievements. For this reason, one of the stops on the trip was a visit to Energiewerke Nord GmbH (EWN) on November 6, 2015. Mr. Thomas Hetzel from EWN served as the guide for the excursion group. The program included a tour of the interim storage facility for radioactive waste and the information center dedicated to the plant’s former operations and the decommissioning and disposal processes. In addition, there was a tour of the primary coolant system of Unit 6, which had never been brought online and therefore provides a good view of the structure of a nuclear power plant. The group also visited the control room of the former Unit 3, where they gained an insight into how a nuclear power plant used to be operated.
A representative from MEK 12 described his impressions as follows: “The fusion reactor is impressive; I just wish the technology had been explained to us in more detail using the model. The nuclear power plant was great. It was fascinating to see the internal structure. I definitely recommend this field trip!”
The participants would like to thank Mr. Burhenn from the IPP and Mr. Hetzel from the EWN for the interesting explanations and guided tours.
Photos: HS
Contact:
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Research Professorship for Reactor and Plant Safety
Dipl.-Ing. Sören Alt
Tel.: 03583/6124879
E-mail: s.alt@hszg.de