Radiation and nuclear technology in the north

At the beginning of November 2015, seven students from the "Energy and Environmental Engineering" Diplom degree course at Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences took part in a field trip/course / fieldwork to the Baltic Sea in the north of Germany to visit plants that provide impressive practical examples for the "Radiation and Nuclear Energy Technology" course. But the long journey was worth it, as the students' questions were answered on site and new interesting facts were uncovered.

An option for the future? Nuclear fusion research at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Greifswald. Ever heard of a stellarator or Wendelstein 7-X? The magnetic fields for the nuclear fusion plasma will soon be generated with superconducting coils (with helium at -270 °C) in order to shoot deuterium nuclei at each other.

Mr. Rainer Burhenn from IPP explained the processes involved in an introductory lecture before the plasma machine was inspected.

One ME14 student commented enthusiastically on his first stop as follows: "I really enjoyed the excursion to Greifswald. I found the visit to the institute very interesting, especially the lecture."

The dismantling of nuclear power plants, waste treatment and interim storage also require outstanding engineering skills. For this reason, one of the points of the trip was a visit to Energiewerke Nord GmbH (EWN) on 06.11.2015. Mr. Thomas Hetzel from EWN supervised the excursion group. The program included a tour of the interim storage facility for radioactive waste, the information center on former operations and the handling of decommissioning and disposal. There was also a tour of the primary circuit of Unit 6, which had never been started up and therefore provides a good insight into the structure of a nuclear power plant. We also visited the control room of the former Unit 3, which gave us an impression of how a nuclear power plant used to operate.

A representative of MEK 12 described his impressions: "The fusion reactor is impressive, I just wish the technology had been explained to us more on the model. The NPP was great and it was exciting to see the internal structure. I would definitely recommend the excursion! "

The participants would like to thank Mr. Burhenn from IPP and Mr. Hetzel from EWN for the interesting explanations and guided tours.

Photos: HS

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