Our Faculty

  • Nuclear power: playing the long game

    When it comes to the nuclear power industry, you’ll always be playing the long game. So, when you’re considering its future, you need to think long-term. And one topic occupying the minds of people in the nuclear power industry right now is the future of its power source. Uranium, a silver-grey coloured heavy metal that…

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  • Inside the drone – the effects of being struck by lightning

    TL;DR What survived What didn’t survive ·         Drone housing ·         Motors (only just) ·         Camera ·         Control PCB ·         SD card ·         Compass module ·         Everything else In short, if your drone gets struck by lightning, you’ll have to buy yourself a whole new one so it’s probably best not to fly in a thunderstorm!…

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  • Drone vs lightning

    It’s not often you can get within ten feet of lightning and still walk away completely unscathed, but this is what happened when we visited The University of Manchester’s High Voltage Laboratory with YouTube film maker Tom Scott, whose 750,000+ subscribers get treated to videos of Amazing Places and Things You Might Not Know. In…

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  • Manchester researchers open a new chapter in the story of crystals

    Everyone is familiar with crystals; diamonds and sapphires are obvious choices but you can also add to that list snowflakes, sugar and salt. We probably all remember attempting to grow sugar and salt crystals at school by dissolving as much sugar or salt as possible into hot water, allowing the solution to cool slowly and…

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  • Richard Taylor appointed BNFL Chair in Nuclear Energy Systems

    Our Nuclear Industry has defined my working life. For over thirty years it has been my constant companion. We have matured together, becoming comfortable in each other’s company and learning to tolerate each other’s faults and frailties. My experience has caused me to see the power of ‘special’ material as a beguiling prize to be…

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  • Women of Wonder – our inspirational women

    Wednesday 8th March is International Women’s Day and we’re calling on you to join us to #BeBoldForChange. Across the Faculty we have a number of inspirational women who are championing changes in the workplace and within their disciplines to ensure they are more gender inclusive and to change commonly held perceptions about them. This year…

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  • University academics share engineering expertise in Rwanda

    Housing Regulations and Standards Division Manager at the Rwanda Housing Authority who was on the training course. The Rwanda Housing Authority (RHA) leads the development of infrastructure projects in Rwanda and the agency is, for example, currently supporting the Rwandan government build ‘model villages’ as part of the latest efforts to modernise rural settlements. The…

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  • Some thoughts on Calder Hall, on its birthday

    17 October 2016 marks 60 years since the opening of the world’s first commercial nuclear power plant. Opened by the Queen in 1956, Calder Hall nuclear power plant in northwest England became the first nuclear power plant to supply commercial amounts of electricity to a public grid. Celebrating 60 years civil electricity generation is an…

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