Summerschool VCU

"An awesome experience", "Absolutely fantastic facility", "Class was amazing", "I learned a lot", "This was truly a once in a lifetime experience", "Instructors loved to teach and to share their knowledge" - so und ähnlich schrieben Jessica, Mark, Sarah, David, Nicole, Nathan, Adriana und Gordon in die offiziellen Evaluationsbögen zum Abschluss ihres Praktikums am Ausbildungskernreaktor AKR-2 der TU Dresden. Die 8 Studenten der Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) kamen vom 15. - 28. Juni 2015 für zwei Wochen aus Richmond in den USA nach Dresden, um hier im Institut für Energietechnik in einem Praktikumskurs grundlegende Experimente zur Reaktorphysik und zum Strahlenschutz am modernsten Ausbildungskernreaktor Deutschland durchzuführen und sich damit 3 Credit Points für ihr Studium in Mechanical & Nuclear Engineering zu erwerben. Hier konnten die Studenten den Reaktor selbst bedienen, Reaktorstarts durchführen und die Versuche Steuerstabkalibrierung, Kritisches Experiment, Einflussfunktion, Aktivierung und Zerfall radioaktiver Nuklide, Nuklididentifikation mit hochauflösender Gammaspektroskopie und Messung der radialen Neutronenflussdichteverteilung durch eigenes Experimentieren kennenlernen und hautnah erleben. Zur Abrundung des Programms kamen einige Vorlesungen über Grundlagen von Reaktorphysik, Reaktorkinetik und Thermohydraulik hinzu, diese in englischer Sprache vor Muttersprachlern zu halten, war auch für die Vortragenden der Professur für Wasserstoff- und Kernenergietechnik eine durchaus lehrreiche und nützliche Erfahrung.

Um den Gästen über den reinen Studieninhalt hinaus einen möglichst breiten Eindruck von Deutschland und Dresden zu vermitteln, büffelten sie jeden Tag in einem von der TUDIAS angebotenen Kursprogramm Grundvokabeln und -sätze in deutscher Sprache, lernten Einiges über die deutsche Kultur kennen und besuchten Dresdner Schätze wie das Grüne Gewölbe im Schloss und staunten bei der Führung durch die Gläserne VW-Manufaktur, die so gar nicht mit den üblichen Vorstellungen einer Autofabrik zusammenpasst. Eine gemeinsame Hiking-Tour durch die Sächsische Schweiz förderte nicht nur den persönlichen Kontakt zwischen den amerikanischen Gästen und den TU-Gastgebern, sondern zeigte auch die Schönheiten unserer unmittelbaren Umgebung.

Die Idee zu dieser Sommerschule entstand auf der internationalen ICONE-Konferenz (International Conference on Nuclear Engineering), an der die TU Dresden bei der Organisation und Durchführung eines Studentenwettbewerbs für die besten wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten von Studierenden aus allen Erdteilen seit mehreren Jahren beteiligt ist und wo die guten Ausbildungsmöglichkeiten am modernisierten AKR-2 der TU Dresden interessiert zur Kenntnis genommen worden sind, zwischen dem Vertreter der VCU, Prof. Sama Bilbao y Leon, und dem Leiter des AKR, Prof. Wolfgang Hansen. Dem gemeinsamen Projektantrag im Rahmen des "VCU Summer Study Abroad"-Programms wurde vom Global Education Office der "Quest Global Impact Award" verliehen und mit 20.000 US-$ dotiert. Trotz dieser Förderung mussten die US-Studenten zu der Reise beträchtliche private Beiträge zuzahlen. Wie aus den Kommentaren und Bewertungen hervorgeht, haben sie es nicht bereut!

VCU Annual Review Vol.9(2016)30:

A Global Power Perspective - Students get hands-on experience at training reactor in Germany

Study abroad programs rich with engineering-specific curriculum are rare. “Normally, the tools and equipment we want students to
become familiar with are readily available for engineering programs,” said Sama Bilbao y león, Ph.D., associate professor in mechanical and nuclear engineering and director of nuclear engineering programs at VCU. One may ask then, why would a group of mechanical and nuclear engineering students embark on a two-week program in Dresden, Germany in June of 2015? Many students with a nuclear engineering focus don’t get to operate a working nuclear reactor. Instead, they get textbook pictures or a “look but don’t touch” tour at a local power plant facility. “At VCU, we are committed to applied learning. I wanted to find a way to get our students access to a nuclear reactor — to gain experience seeing one in action, with the opportunity to touch and take control of the reactor,” Bilbao y León stressed. “In addition, a global understanding of the energy landscape is absolutely vital.”

PROGRAM PLANNING BEGINS
In 2014, Bilbao y León submitted a proposal to the annual Quest Global Impact Awards for a Study Abroad program managed by VCU’s Global education Office (GeO). Bilbao y León was awarded one of the 2014 GeO Global Impact Awards, which provided the grant funding needed to kick-start the program and help cover travel expenses for participating students. From there, it was a matter of coordinating curriculum, planning travel logistics and marketing the new program to students. The threecredit course was made available to mechanical and nuclear engineering students for the first time during the summer of 2015. “When I learned about the study abroad program, I had to sign on. It was definitely an opportunity you don’t normally get, where we could work with international engineering students and faculty,” said Nathan Kirby, a senior mechanical and nuclear engineering student. Five other undergraduates and two graduate students also made the trip to the Technical University of Dresden, which houses the AKR-2 training reactor, Germany’s most modern research nuclear reactor. The university’s student body is 36,737, and nearly 30 percent of those students are studying engineering.

GAINING CLARITY, GRASPING NUCLEAR CONCEPTS
Each morning, Bilbao y León would meet with the VCU students over breakfast at one of the Technical University of Dresden’s residence
halls. Then the group would jump into a rigorous day filled with a German language class and a theoretical lecture on relevant reactor aspects, followed by a five-hour laboratory session where students applied what they learned in the lecture. Each evening students were required to write lab reports summarizing what they were trying to achieve in their reactor experiment, their procedure, what measurements were taken and what the expected behavior versus actual results were. “Everything I’ve been learning
started to click,” said Mark Massie, a graduate mechanical and nuclear engineering student. “When we got in the weeds with our experiments, having to think through and explain why we were seeing certain behaviors and how we could adjust the outcomes, I could finally connect the dots.” The main topics covered during the program were reactor physics, thermohydraulics and reactor kinetics.
Students were trained in the start-up and shut-down procedures for the reactor, performed calibration of the control rods, and measured and characterized the reactor’s neutron flux. After their initial training, the students independently operated the reactor and performed all the above evolutions under the supervision of AKR-2 faculty and staff. Of course, students were given a little time to unwind and experience the history and culture of Dresden and the Saxony region. They hiked in the nearby Saxon Switzerland national Park, visited the Dresden and Meissen royal palaces and toured the Volkswagen transparent factory.

WHAT’S NEXT
The Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering plans to offer the study abroad program again in the summer of 2016 and beyond.
“This course provided our students with the opportunity to learn about different technologies, perspectives and approaches for the production of electricity. To stay current and become the best professionals in their field, it is essential for well-rounded engineers to have an understanding of the big picture. They need to continuously challenge their assumptions, and consider the global energy and environmental situation,” said Bilbao y León. For Jessica Bishop, a senior mechanical and nuclear engineering student, the trip was definitely worth it. “I can do more than tell people how reactors work now. I can show them. Those are special skills that will make me stand out among other job candidates,” she said. “If this program continues, it will continue to set VCU apart from most universities in the United States.”