2026–2027 Build Year

Our Projects

Our executives are currently preparing the framework of three different projects, including comprehensive feasibility reports, technical risk assessments, and strict milestones for their teams. General members will vote on which project becomes QNET's inaugural build.

Join the team to vote

See full technical details and per-project cost breakdowns in our Information Package →

Project Charter ↓

The Framework

Project Philosophy

All potential QNET projects must satisfy our three-pillar Project Charter before moving forward.

01

Teaches Nuclear Concepts

Providing members with tangible, hands-on experience with nuclear physics and engineering principles.

02

Involves Multiple Disciplines

Nuclear engineering is vastly interdisciplinary — our projects must reflect that breadth across teams.

03

Achievable Within Scope

Scoped appropriately to be completed safely and effectively within timeline and resources by a student team.

Project A

Remotely Operated Rover

Developed and idealized with Software Team Leads Gabriel Brannon and Tejas Marwaha, the remotely operated rover is a remote-control handling platform designed to replace human intervention during hazardous nuclear operations.

Objective: To design, model, and assemble a highly functional mobile chassis carrying a multi-jointed robotic arm capable of traversing a restricted zone, retrieving localized material, and securing it into storage.

Technical Specifications:

Must feature a 360-degree horizontal rotation shoulder base with vertical and horizontal elbow and wrist tracking joints.
Must stably lift and transport targeted objects weighing between 0.25 to 1.0 kg without failure.
Must be fully operated from a safe distance using a remote controller or dedicated web application.

By developing this project, students actively:

Gain an understanding of how reactor control rods are handled, inspected and moved within automated reactor systems.
Learn the safe transportation and storage constraints required to move nuclear fuel components.
Develop a clear understanding of radiation detection.

Team Tasks & Learning Outcomes

Mechanical

Develop advanced proficiency in CAD and additive 3D printing.
Learn how to run computation stress, strain and load-distribution simulations.
Gain practical experience in structural tolerance design, mechanical joint design, and end-effector gripper mechanics.

Project B

SMR Cooling System

Developed and idealized by Aidan Woods and Justin Hooey, this simulates a real-world SMR cooling system equipped with a Cooling Tower.

Objective: To design, model, and assemble a highly functional cooling system modeled after Small Modular Reactor (SMR) cycles to evaluate heat rejection and test the cooling system's effectiveness in simulated disasters.

Technical Specifications:

Must feature four main focus systems: a mock reactor core that generates heat, a primary convection cycle, a secondary steam cycle, and integrated control systems.
Must operate with working fluid temperatures of 90–120°C.
Working fluid will be non-toxic and non-flammable.
Loop must possess proper calculations for pressure vessel limits and safety thresholds to manage potential vacuum or over-pressure safety hazards.

By developing this project, students actively:

Develop an understanding of real-world reactor operations.
Gain an understanding of power generation cycles.
Learn real-world reactor operational anomalies and power-less accident scenarios.

Team Tasks & Learning Outcomes

Mechanical

Develop advanced proficiency in CAD, parametric assemblies, and technical drawings.
Learn how to calculate safety thresholds, pressure vessel limits, and structural geometries for high-temperature piping systems.
Gain practical experience in scaling multi-loop fluid convection geometries using lightweight rapid-prototyping materials.

Project C

Gamma Ray Imaging

Developed and idealized by Tochukwu Odiwa and Arsalan Vahidi, this aims to build a scaled-down, low-cost medical imaging prototype based on the mechanisms of a PET scan.

Objective: To design, model, and assemble a Gamma Ray Imaging system able to pinpoint the exact location where radiation originated from in 3D space.

Technical Specifications:

Utilizes two identical detector sets with a BGO crystal array to convert incoming gamma rays from a decaying thoriated tungsten rod to a faint spark of light, and semiconductors to convert the light into an electrical pulse.
The system must be enclosed in a box to prevent light leaking in.
The system must precisely map out detector coordinates to calculate and draw intersecting vectors (lines of response), generating a reconstructed 3D image.

By developing this project, students actively:

Gain an understanding of the physics behind positron decay.
Learn how the nuclear industry maps radiation beyond basic Geiger counters.
Study quantum mechanisms such as the photoelectric effect and Compton scattering.
Gain experience with natural decay chains and basic radiation safety using thoriated tungsten welding rods.

Team Tasks & Learning Outcomes

Mechanical

Develop advanced proficiency in CAD in developing a light-tight enclosure.
Learn how to run computation stress, strain and load-distribution simulations.
Gain practical experience in structural tolerance design and mechanical joint design.

Independent Studies

Materials Studies

Led by Materials Lead Noah Miggiani, the Materials sub-team runs its own studies independent of QNET's flagship build. As of July 1, 2026, the team has completed preliminary research to establish three potential study tracks.

About the Materials Team: This specialized branch of QNET bridges the gap between mechanical design and nuclear physics. While the other sub-teams focus on project design and build, the Materials team focuses on simulations and virtual testing — modeling atomic-level interaction, evaluating material degradation, and predicting how structural materials behave under intense reactor conditions.

Students in this branch can be expected to:

Utilize industry-standard ion irradiation modeling software like SRIM to predict radiation depth, energy deposition, and primary material damage production in critical components.
Research and analyze reactor materials to safely predict how they will respond to operational stresses.
Model degradation, microstructural responses, and other mechanical properties and effects.

Select a study track to explore →

Materials Study Track

Ion Surrogates for Neutron Radiation Damage

This track compares the difference in neutron beams and ion beams in both their recoil spectra and energy deposition partitioning. By comparing which locally-available ions produce spectra and energy-partitioning profiles that most closely mimic real neutron damage, researchers can identify better surrogates for running more accurate experiments with ions rather than neutrons — which are harder to use precisely, as they carry no charge. Our team plans to utilize SRIM simulations, as it is uniquely suited for capturing the recoil spectra and doesn't require any physical experiments aside from experimental validation.