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Browse materialsMIT 22.01 · Fall 2016

Introduction to Nuclear Engineering and Ionizing Radiation

Subjects: Engineering · Physics

Art: Not determined, Figure 6 of Radio-active substances, 1904 · Public domain

Instructor: Prof. Michael Short
Term: Fall 2016
Level: Undergraduate
What's inside: 35 videos · 9 problem sets · 5 exams · 10 solutions · 1 reading · 39 other files · 9 web pages
Materials open: Videos here · files on MIT OCW

Other versions of this course

22.01 · Spring 2024 · Study here
22.01 · Fall 2016 · Study here (this version)

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Source: MIT OpenCourseWare 22.01 Introduction to Nuclear Engineering and Ionizing Radiation, Fall 2016, Prof. Michael Short — original course page on ocw.mit.edu ↗. License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Study order: MIT's own listing order, section by section. Taken from MIT's published course files, downloaded from ocw.mit.edu on September 22, 2026. How RedLectern is built.

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Has MIT solutions 11 files in this course are named by MIT as solutions.

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Prerequisites are not listed here. Check MIT's own syllabus for this course.

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Materials by section

Grouped by section, as MIT organized them. Not sequenced or ordered.

Instructor Insights

Nuclear Gets Personal with Prof. Michael ShortVideo Open ↗

Assignments

21 files

Exams

7 files

Other materials from this course

35 video transcripts

60 images

MIT OpenCourseWare, Prof. Michael Short, 22.01 Introduction to Nuclear Engineering and Ionizing Radiation, Fall 2016.

License: CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 · Edition: Fall 2016 · Open the original course on OCW ↗

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Introduction to Nuclear Engineering and Ionizing Radiation

Before you start

What's here, and what isn't

Not included here

Materials by section

Instructor Insights

Assignments

Exams

Other materials from this course

Lecture 1: Radiation History to the Present—Understanding the Discovery of the Neutron

Lecture 2: Radiation Utilizing Technology

Lecture 3: Nuclear Mass and Stability, Nuclear Reactions and Notation, Introduction to Cross Section

Lecture 4: Binding Energy, the Semi-Empirical Liquid Drop Nuclear Model, and Mass Parabolas

Lecture 5: Mass Parabolas Continued, Stability, and Half-Life

Lecture 6: The Q-Equation—The Most General Nuclear Reaction

Lecture 7: Q-Equation Continued and Examples

Lecture 8: Radioactive Decay—Modes, Energetics, and Trends

Lecture 10: Radioactive Decay Continued

Lecture 11: Radioactivity and Series Radioactive Decays

Lecture 12: Numerical Examples of Activity, Half-Life, and Series Decay

Lecture 13: Practical Radiation Counting Experiments—Solid Angle, Count Rates, Uncertainty, and Hands-On Gamma Counting and Nuclear Activation Analysis

Lecture 14: Photon Interactions with Matter I—Interaction Methods and Gamma Spectral Identification

Lecture 15: Photon Interaction with Matter II—More Details, Shielding Calculations

Lecture 16: Nuclear Reactor Construction and Operation

Lecture 17: Ion-Nuclear Interactions I—Scattering and Stopping Power Derivation, Ion Range

Lecture 18: Ion-Nuclear Interactions II—Bremsstrahlung, X-Ray Spectra, Cross Sections

Lecture 19: Uses of Photon and Ion Nuclear Interactions—Characterization Techniques

Lecture 20: How Nuclear Energy Works

Lecture 21: Neutron Transport

Lecture 22: Simplifying Neutron Transport to Neutron Diffusion

Lecture 23: Solving the Neutron Diffusion Equation, and Criticality Relations

Lecture 24: Transients, Feedback, and Time-Dependent Neutronics

Lecture 25: Review of All Nuclear Interactions and Problem Set 7 Help

Lecture 26: Chernobyl—How It Happened

Lecture 27: Nuclear Materials—Radiation Damage and Effects in Matter

Lecture 28: Chernobyl Trip Report by Jake Hecla

Lecture 29: Nuclear Materials Science Continued

Lecture 30: Radiation Dose, Dosimetry, and Background Radiation

Lecture 31: Frontiers in Nuclear Medicine, Where One Finds Ionizing Radiation

Lecture 32: Chemical and Biological Effects of Radiation, Smelling Nuclear Bullshit

Lecture 33: Long-Term Biological Effects of Radiation, Statistics, Radiation Risk

Lecture 34: Radiation Hormesis

Lecture 35: Food Irradiation and Its Safety