That year, NC State College administrators approved construction of a reactor and the establishment of a collegiate nuclear engineering program.

[4] The reactor enriches the department curricula by providing hands on experience as well as training for students.

It is also used for professional training for nuclear utility operators and engineers, DOE Interns, and State and local radiation protection personnel.

The core consists of low-enriched Uranium pins intended to be very similar to what is used in commercial nuclear power plants.

This reactor is well suited for experiments requiring a large neutron flux because peaking occurs around the edge of the core due to under moderation.

In September 2007, students, faculty and staff produced the most intense operating positron beam anywhere in the world.

In November 2010, the PULSTAR reactor was linked to the nuclear engineering department of Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST).

In 1949, Dr. Clifford K. Beck was recruited from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to join the faculty with plans to make NCSU the first academic institution to operate a nuclear reactor.

The first reactor at an academic institution went critical on September 5, 1953, approximately four years after construction had been started.

It operated for a short time but was shut down due to corrosion problems that lead to fuel leakage.

[12] In 1955, Dr. Raymond L. Murray, another recruit from Oak Ridge National Laboratory, joined the faculty, who later became the longest serving department head.

In the late 1950s, Dr. Raymond L. Murray became head of the Applied Physics department where he also provided leadership to the beginning of a nuclear engineering educational program.

In 1956 Clifford Beck departed the program to accept a position with the Atomic Energy Commission in Washington.

This reactor became a major part of the nuclear engineering instructional program and also began to provide some services in radioisotope production and neutron activation analysis.

Through the late 1960s and early 1970s the Air Force and Army began to send qualified students to the program to obtain M.S.

The prompt gamma facility performs the analysis of elements that emit characteristic signatures immediately on neutron capture.

[citation needed] Neutron radiography is a powerful non-destructive imaging technique for the internal evaluation of materials or components.