UN0803 - Nuclear Reactor Safety Design
(2011 version)
(This course is based on McMaster's EP714)

Announcements

• Offered 2011.08.20 - 2011.10.16
• Location: Lecture Theatre, Durham College - Whitby Campus, 1610 Champlain Avenue, Whitby. See Campus Maps.
• Distance Education - If you will be participating in the course using distance education please inform the instructor by email prior to the course commencing. Access distance ed courses using Elluminate at, https://maclive.mcmaster.ca/
• Although the level of physics and math required for UN0803 is relatively modest, it is highly recommended that you review the Physics refresher / prerequisite material for this course and the general Math refresher / prerequisite to ensure you are ready for UN0803. See the Refresher / Prerequisite Material page for further information.
• It is assumed you are familiar with CANDU design. If not it is highly recommended that you skim the text for UN0803 to understand what you need to know; and read a summary of the CANDU design. The CANDU 6 technical summary can be found on the Refresher / Prerequisite Material page under the CANDU NPP heading, and the ACR-1000 Technical Description can be found under "supplementary reading" further down this page (for the latter, please ask the UN0803 lecturer for the password).

Course Description:

Safety design and analysis of nuclear reactors based on deterministic and probabilistic assessments. Topics include: concepts of risk; probability tools and techniques; safety criteria; design basis accidents; risk assessment; safety analysis; safety system design; and general policy and principles.

Prerequisite: Registration in the UNENE Joint M. Eng. Program
Instructor: Victor Snell.

Course Administration

• Schedule - 9:00 am start
  • August 20 & 21
  • September 10 & 11
  • September 24 & 25
  • October 15 & 16

Course Notes:

• Information below is the 2010 version unless otherwise noted. Stay tuned for updates.
• Course Outline
  • Forward, Acknowledgements (pdf 137kb) - new as of 2011.08.17
  • Expectations (pdf 299kb) (presentation) - new as of 2011.08.17
  • Outline (pdf 98kb)
• Project
  • Ideas for Projects (pdf 40kb) - new as of 2011.08.17
  • Scope Guideline (pdf 5kb)
  • Class Project (pdf 98kb)
  • Class Project Flowchart (pdf 30kb)
• Chapter 1 - Introduction (Snell)
  • Text (pdf 739kb) - new as of 2011.08.17
  • Lecture 1 Slides (pdf 582kb) - new as of 2011.08.17
• Chapter 2 - Design Basis Accidents (Snell)
  • Text (pdf 8.1Mb) - new as of 2011.08.19
  • Lecture 2 Slides (pdf 1.46Mb) - new as of 2011.08.19
• Chapter 3 - Case Studies (Snell)
  • Text (pdf 1.3Mb) - new as of 2011.08.26
  • Lecture 3 Case Studies Slides (pdf 1.0Mb) - new as of 2011.09.02
  • Lecture 4 Case Studies Slides cont'd (pdf 3.6Mb) - new as of 2011.08.28
• Chapter 4 - Probability Tools and Techniques
  • Text (pdf 787kb) - new as of 2010.04.22
  • Lecture 5 Probability Slides (pdf 576kb) - new as of 2011.09.21
  • Bayes Theorem - resource material, including a short video
• Chapter 5 - Safety Systems
  • Text (pdf 2.7Mb)
  • Lecture 6 (pdf 672kb) - Shutdown Systems
  • Lecture 7 (pdf 1.1Mb) - Heat Removal Systems
• Chapter 6- Safety Goals
  • Text (pdf 927kb)
  • Lecture 8 (pdf 666kb)
• Chapter 7 - Accident Analysis
  • Text (pdf 2.3Mb)
  • Lecture 9 (pdf 2.3Mb)
  • Lecture 10 (pdf 1.2Mb)
• Chapter 8 - Technology of Accident Analysis
  • Text (pdf 4.4Mb)
  • Lecture11 (pdf 311kb)
  • Lecture 12 (pdf 642kb)
• Chapter 9 - Whither Safety
  • Text (pdf 1.4Mb) - IAEA
  • Text (pdf 1.6Mb) - Passive Designs
  • Lecture 13 (pdf 1.6Mb)
• Supplementary reading
  • IAEA-NS-R-1 (pdf 201kb) - Safety of Nuclear Power Plants: Design - Safety Requirements
  • ICONE 12-49287 (pdf 145kb) - The Probability and Management of Human Error, Romney B. Duffey and John W. Saull, Proceedings of ICONE12: 12th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering , April 25-29, 2004, Virginia, USA
  • ACR-1000 Technical description, AECL 10820-01371-TED-001, Revision 2 (pdf 8.5Mb, 627 pages) [password protected - contact instructor]

Course Assignments and Projects

• Student Reports
  • to come

Learning Resources

• Teaching matters - helpful general information on teaching and learning for the student and the educator
• Reactor physics code downloads
• Looking for FORTRAN information? See the Downloads page for engineering software and compilers, etc.
• Computing tools - some suggestions.
• Chernobyl information
• Ionizing Radiation in the 20th Centry, by Zbigniew Jaworowski (pdf 1161kb)
• Some of course notes have rather old values for the consequences of radiation doses. Here are the ICRP-60 recommendations summarized FYI. Source: "1990 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection", adopted by the Commission in November 1990; ICRP Publication 60; Pergamon Press, Oxford.
• Davis-Besse reactor vessel head corrosion - a near miss. (pdf 461kb)
  
• Suggestions welcome.