Safety of nuclear power plants

Prof. Matthias Vanderhaegen – Universiteit Gent
Prof. Pierre- Etienne Labeau – Université Libre de Bruxelles

5 ECTS

141 hours study time

  • 42 contact hours theory
  • 6 contact hours exercises/laboratory sessions/visits
  • 4 hours seminar
  • 0 hours additional personal work (reading etc.)

  • To introduce the students to methods and practices supporting the defense-in-depth approach for nuclear power plants.
    More specifically:

    • To present elements of nuclear safety philosophy.
    • To understand how to ensure the link between nuclear safety and reactor operation.
    • To master all the contributors to the core reactivity balance and power distribution in normal operation.
    • To understand specific measurement and control issues in nuclear reactors.
    • To introduce the basic notions and techniques of system reliability engineering.
    • To understand the concepts of safety analyses (both deterministic and probabilistic), and the fundamentals of probabilistic safety analysis (PSA).
    • To present some PSA-based applications.

  • Safety in normal operation and design basis accidents (28h)

    • Fundamental Safety principles (IAEA), deterministic safety analyses of the design basis accidents and Cycle specific
      safety evaluation methodology.
    • Basic principles of the in-core fuel management based on the linear reactivity model.
    • Reactivity coefficients (moderator, Doppler), neutron poisons (xenon, samarium, …), their variation with burnup
      and core state and their impact on safety.
    • Reactivity control means as safety functions (boron, control rods, burnable poisons) and their sensitivity to the
      core burnup and in-core fuel management parameters.
    • Core power distributions, operating limits.
    • Fuel rod design, thermal-mechanical behavior and limits in normal operation and accidental conditions.
    • Main reactor protection systems
    Optional visits and laboratory session:
    • Visit of a Nuclear Power Plant (Doel).
    • Two day session of compact and full scope Nuclear Power Plant simulator (Tihange).

    Reliability & Safety (14h theory + 6h exercises)

    • Introduction to nuclear safety and defence in depth
    • deterministic vs. probabilistic safety analyses
    • probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) methodology and PSA levels and indicators
    • Component reliability
    • Fault tree and event tree analysis
    • Markov analysis
    • Common cause failure analysis
    • Elements of human reliability analysis
    • Elements of the level 2 and level 3 PSA methodology
    • Limits of the classical PSA methodology
    • PSA-based applications
    Seminar (3 hours each):
    • Introduction to PWR technology
    • In-core fuel management: possible evolution within the safety limits
    • Description of the major nuclear accidents (TMI, Chernobyl, Fukushima-Daiichi…)

  • Operation & Control
    • Collection Génie Atomique "La chaudière des réacteurs à eau sous pression" Ed. EDP Sciences, 2004
    • Collection Génie Atomique « Exploitation des coeurs REP », Ed. EDP Sciences, 2008
    • USNRC Technical Training Center, « Pressurized Water Reactor Systems”
    Reliability & Safety
    • Modarres, M., What Every Engineer Should Know about Reliability and Risk Analysis, Dekker Inc., New York, 1993.
    • Kumamoto, H., and Henley, E.J., Probabilistic Risk Assessment and Management for Engineers and Scientists, 2nd
      Edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2001.
    • Leroy, A., and Signoret, J.P., Reliability Assessment of Safety and Production Systems, Springer Series in Reliability
      Engineering 2021

  • Courses in the following field

    • Nuclear reactor theory
    • Nuclear thermal hydraulics

  • Operation & Control

    First and second session: Individual oral exam, closed book, written preparation

    Reliability & Safety

    First and second session: Written examination (closed book).

    • The grade will be determined by weighing the grades on the separate parts, in proportion to the number of ECTS per part.
      In case of a failure for one of the parts, the examination committee can decide to penalize by lowering the final grade.
    • The examination of the separate parts of this course can be scheduled on multiple days.

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