Integration of Reactor Design, Operations, and Safety, Fall 2006

Abstract:: This course integrates studies of engineering sciences, reactor physics and safety assessment into nuclear power plant design. Topics include materials issues in plant design and operations, aspects of thermal design, fuel depletion and fission-product poisoning, and temperature effects on reactivity, safety considerations in regulations and operations, such as the evolution of the regulatory process, the concept of defense in depth, General Design Criteria, accident analysis, probabilistic risk assessment, and risk-informed regulations.

Probability And Its Applications To Reliability, Quality Control, And Risk Assessment, Fall 2005

Abstract:: Interpretations of the concept of probability. Basic probability rules; random variables and distribution functions; functions of random variables. Applications to quality control and the reliability assessment of mechanical/electrical components, as well as simple structures and redundant systems. Elements of statistics. Bayesian methods in engineering. Methods for reliability and risk assessment of complex systems, (event-tree and fault-tree analysis, common-cause failures, human reliability models). Uncertainty propagation in complex systems (Monte Carlo methods, Latin Hypercube Sampling). Introduction to Markov models. Examples and applications from nuclear and chemical-process plants, waste repositories, and mechanical systems. Open to qualified undergraduates.