This page includes a course calendar.
Course Meeting Times
Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session
Prerequisites
22.211, 22.312
Textbooks and Readings
There is no required textbook for the course. Readings will be assigned from various regulatory, industry, and scientific sources.
Assignments
Students are required to complete nine homework problems and a midterm paper on national nuclear energy strategy.
Grading
| ACTIVITIES | PERCENTAGES |
|---|---|
| Homework (Weighted, see below) | 35% |
| National Nuclear Energy Strategy Paper | 20% |
| Midterm Oral Exam | 10% |
| Final Oral Exam | 35% |
Homework Weighting
The score of each homework problem will be adjusted in accordance with the following relative weighting:
| PROBLEMS # | MAXIMUM SCORES |
|---|---|
| 1 | 20 |
| 2 | 60 |
| 3 | 15 |
| 4 | 25 |
| 5 | 40 |
| 6 | 25 |
| 7 | 10 |
| 8 | 50 |
| 9 | 20 |
Calendar
| LEC # | TOPICS | INSTRUCTORS | KEY DATES |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nuclear Energy System Strategies | Prof. Todreas | |
| 2 | Design Goals and Interrelationship of Core Design Parameters | Prof. Todreas | |
| 3 | Thermal Hydraulic Design Requirements - LWR Steady State and Transient Design | Prof. Todreas | Problem 1 due (topic of Lec #2) |
| 4 | Thermal Hydraulic in Safety Analysis | Prof. Todreas | |
| 5 | Reactor Physics - Design Parameters for PWRs | Prof. Apostolakis | |
| 6 | Design Requirements - Safety and Critical Safety Functions | Prof. Apostolakis | Problem 2 due (topic of Lec #3) |
| 7 | Reactor Safety: The Emergence of Probabilistic Risk Assessment | Prof. Apostolakis | |
| 8 | Reactor Physics - Design Parameters for GFRs | Chris Handwerk, Course TA | Problem 3 due (topic of Lec #5) |
| 9 | PRA Methodology Overview | Prof. Apostolakis | Problem 4 due (topic of Lec #6 and #7) |
| 10 | Probabilistic Calculations - I | Prof. Apostolakis | |
| 11 | Probabilistic Calculations - II | Prof. Apostolakis | Paper: U.S. National Nuclear Strategy (topic of Lec #1) due two days after Lec #11 |
| 12 | Risk-Informed Changes to the Licensing Basis-I | Prof. Apostolakis | |
| 13 | Applying Safety Regulations to Plant Operations | Prof. Kadak | Problem 5 due (topic of Lec #10 and 11) |
| 14 | Risk-Informed Changes to the Licensing Basis-II | Prof. Apostolakis | |
| 15 | Large Break LOCA Analysis/Result | Prof. Todreas | |
| 16 | The Maintenance Rule I | Prof. Apostolakis | |
| 17 | The Maintenance Rule II |
Problem 6 due (topic of Lec #13) |
|
| 18 | Plant Economic Evaluation | Prof. Todreas | |
| 19 | Plant Economic Evaluation (cont.) | Prof. Todreas | |
| 20 | Materials Selection Process | Prof. Ballinger | Problem 7 due (topic of Lec #15) |
| 21 | Radiation Damage Effects and Their Design Implications | Prof. Ballinger | |
| 22 | Environmental Degradation and its Design Implications | Prof. Ballinger | |
| 23 | PWR Materials Applications | Prof. Ballinger | Problem 8 due (topic of Lec #18) |
| 24 | GFR Materials Applications | Prof. Ballinger | |
| 25 | Risk Informed Design Guidance for Gen IV Reactors |
Prof. Apostolakis | Problem 9 due (topic of Lec #21 and #22) two days after Lec #25 |
| 26 | Integration of Design Process - IRIS as the Example | Guest Lecturer: Bojan Petrovich, Westinghouse | |
| 27 | Integration of Design Process - 1: IRIS Plant, 2: Sample Oral | Prof. Todreas/Prof. Apostolakis | |
| 28 | Student Oral Exams, 45 min. (Scheduled to Meet Individual Student Availability) | Exam Committee |