Course annotation
Introduction to safety, security and forensics
The course focuses on introducing the complicated and multidisciplinary problem of the safety and security of the nuclear facilities and forensics analysis of the nuclear materials. The lecture contains an introduction to the topics followed by group B courses. Introductory lectures focus on the nuclear fuel cycle, construction and operation of the nuclear facilities, and their successful start-up process. The lectures of the second course part are focused on ionising radiation sources, the detection of ionising radiation and introduction to dosimetry and radiation protection. The third course part deals with nuclear and radio-analytical chemistry and an introduction to forensic analysis. The last lectures are devoted to the computer safety introduction, information safety and cybernetics safety.
Safety and security of the nuclear facilities
The course focuses on describing the integrated view to the safety and security of the nuclear facilities (nuclear reactors and research reactors) and the description of synergy effects between the safety and security of the nuclear facilities. Introductory lectures are devoted to the nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty, international and social context of the safeguards and their relations to the nuclear power plant operations and the role of the nuclear facility and materials security regarding nuclear weapons non-proliferation treaty and safeguards. The second-course lectures devote to the traditional meaning of the 3S (Safety, security, safeguards) concept of the safe nuclear facilities operation and their implementation into the currently used nuclear facilities and introduction to the new integrated 3S approach to the safety nuclear facilities operation. Moreover, the detailed basics of the systematic approach to the nuclear facilities safety operation synergy via application of the primary project accident and primary project threat in the integrated approach to the defence in depth. The third course part is devoted to the human factor in relations to the nuclear facility safety operation, especially key operational personal in the integrated approach of the safe operation of the nuclear facilities. The last course part focuses on the specifics of the nuclear power plants and research reactors related to the integrated approach of the safe operation of the nuclear facilities.
The ionising radiation detection
The students get acquainted with various typical experiments used in nuclear safety and the forensic sciences from theoretical (lectures) and practical (labs) sides. The presented experiments will include spectrometry and neutron, alpha, beta, gamma radiation and surface contamination detection, shape discrimination, coincidence measurement, and integral dosimetry. Numerous of these tasks is known by the students from the standard practice or their previous study. This course will provide more complex information about the upper listed experiments. The students will learn the optimisation of the setup of the experimental devices based on the specific situation with relation to the required results (application for which the measurement is used). The graduate student should independently choose the proper detection technique for the required output, plug and operated it, and evaluate the measurement results.
Experimental nuclear chemistry
This course aims to provide students with knowledge about radiochemical laboratory techniques and apply the knowledge in laboratory practice. The course is based on the description of interactions between ionising radiation with the material. The course is focused on describing the abilities and manners of ionising radiation measurement in details. The practical part teaches the students the measurements of each radiation type detection, work techniques in radiochemistry labs, and it is used for verification of the basic knowledge of the nuclear chemistry course. The course absolvents get the abilities to the safe and correct use of the nuclear chemistry methods in their research work. The knowledge is essential in the required knowledge base of the students focused on the nuclear forensic analysis in the study programme safety and security of the nuclear facilities and the forensic analysis of the nuclear materials.
Physical protection of the nuclear facilities
The course includes the complex introduction to the security of the nuclear facilities, materials, and radionuclide sources before the non-approved manipulations. After the base terms definition and historical legislative introduction, the students get acquainted with the assumptions of the physical security systems. Primarily material and devices characteristics regarding the potential misusage, its possible impacts, and the threat definition. The main part of the lectures and labs is devoted to the physical security system, its designing and evaluations. The students will get the theoretical information and practical examples as well. The practical part of the course will be provided in the lab with a hypothetic model using the evaluation software. The course will be concluded by the specific nuclear material and radionuclide sources transportation and the problem of the internal threat.
Information security
The students get to know the theoretical and practical experiences and knowledge in the network and security systems field. The course aims to bring the physical, system, and network ICT safety system to the students. Students will learn about the chosen methods of monitoring and analysing the network operation as the detection device of the undesirable behaviour of the network elements and stations. The aim is to separate the regular network operation and the attacks and provide information about the attacked parts of the network infrastructure. The network basics are followed by the system safety topics focused on the safety of the operational systems and their packages and their interaction with the network elements and users. An integral part of network and system safety is penetration testing, which aims to detect the system's vulnerabilities and network infrastructure as the prevention against potential attacks. The next topic deals with the reaction to the safety incident. This theme includes defensive measures to stop an ongoing attack and create recovery measures from a security incident. Digital forensic analysis is an analytic method, which provides information about the manner of the attack and its impact. The unique topic is devoted to the basic information about malware detection methods and usage of the related detection devices. The last topic includes the cybernetic safety of the industry systems concerning the electronic components used in the nuclear Power Plants.
Instrumental and radiochemical methods for nuclear forensic analysis
The students are introduced to the instrumental and radiochemistry methods for nuclear forensic analysis during the theoretical lectures. These methods require specific radiochemistry processing of the obtained samples. The course is further divided into two main fields. The first is focused on the methods mainly related to the direct measurement and radionuclide evaluation in different samples. The second deals with analysing the sample matrix and its relation to the radionuclides contained and its separate explanatory value regarding the forensic analysis point of view; moreover, both cases relate to the evaluation and impact of the isotopic composition of the sample with the stable nuclides and the radioactive concerning the standard materials of the known composition, origin and history.
Nuclear Safety of nuclear facilities
The course is focused on the detailed introduction to the nuclear safety of the nuclear facilities, especially of the nuclear power plants and research reactors. The first part of the courses corresponds to the legislative framework of the nuclear safety evaluation, the role of the state, state nuclear regulatory body and operator of the nuclear facility as well as the nuclear legislation of the Czech Republic, international recommendations (IAEA, EURATOM, WENRA, …). The second course part deals with the development philosophy safety, basic principles of the defence-in-depth, safety systems of the currently used reactors, reactors of the generation III+ and IV. The approaches to the safety evaluation of the nuclear facilities (deterministic, stochastic, Best-estimate) and the impact of the human factor on the nuclear facility safety operation are discussed in the third section of the course. The fourth part deals with the loss of coolant water accidents and accidents related to the criticality and discussion of the chosen events on the nuclear facilities (A1, Three Mile Island 2, Chernobyl, Fukushima, Windscale). The safety aspects of the research reactors operation are discussed in the final lecture.
Nuclear forensic analysis
The course summarises and defines the origin, focus and field of interest of the forensic sciences intending to introduce the students not only with the methods and philosophy of the forensic approaches, but the course also aims to their usage in the field of analysis and tracking the nuclear materials and materials of the dual-use. The course aims to provide the students with the summarised insight into the forensic sciences and show them the connections of the whole nuclear fuel cycle materials in context to the national and international legislative framework to analyse and track each material subject. The students will be acquainted with the origin and usage of the tracked materials and the abilities and protection against their misusage.
Construction and operation of the nuclear facilities
The course is focused on the construction and operation of the different nuclear facilities types (currently used even in the future). The problem is discussed from the field of study view. The technical information is a starting point for studying nuclear facilities safety and security because the emphasis is also placed on nuclear fuel and nuclear fuel handling in individual fuel facilities.
Cryptology
The course introduces students to the cryptology topics (i.e. cryptography and cryptoanalysis), which create one of the essential disciplines of computer network safety. The first course part deals with the mathematical backgrounds for creating the cyphers and principles on which the security is based. These are mainly the information theory and complexity theory. The attention is focused on using the theory of the information in cryptology (entropy of information sources and related topics). The second part is devoted to cryptography, and the students will be introduced to the creative principles of symmetric and asymmetric cyphers. The related problems on which most current asymmetric cryptosystems are based are also explained. The students will be introduced to the chosen methods of the cryptoanalysis, including the basis of the linear, differential and algebraic cryptoanalysis, in the third part. Next, the attacks to cypher implementations will be discussed, especially attacks by side channels, such as time analysis and subscription analysis. Finally, the protection methods against the various types of attacks will be addressed.
Quantum information and cryptography
The course deals with quantum information processing, quantum calculations, quantum communication discussed from the safety aspects and quantum cryptography. The students will understand the specific laws of quantum physics and the microscopic quantum world's properties that allow reaching aims unreachable via classical approach, otherwise to solve various tasks more effective. The course aims to develop the practical and theoretical knowledge of the computer safety field using the latest world trends from the quantum information processing field and cryptography.
Advanced nuclear chemistry
The course aims to pass students the knowledge of the material properties and phenomenon of the chemical and physical-chemical nature caused by the nucleus, or the nucleus participate in them, and its radioactive transformation. The course covers the whole field of "Nuclear Chemistry" beginning from the definition and development of nuclear chemistry and radiochemistry over the nuclear individual, nuclear reactions, natural and artificial radiation, the kinetics of the nuclear reaction, radioactive decay laws, energy of the nuclear reactions, nucleus mass-energy balance, the nuclear reaction yields, cross-section, excitation function, nuclear reaction, the chemistry of the atoms created by the nuclear reaction. The labs accompany the lectures. The students can develop knowledge and apply nuclear chemistry methods in their research work by graduation. This knowledge is part of the required knowledge base for the students focused on the nuclear forensic analysis of the study programme Safety and Security of the nuclear facilities and forensics analysis of the nuclear materials.
Radiation effects in semiconductors
This course deals with analysing the radiation problems focusing on the most significant aspects, which are essential for understanding the degradative effects observed in the semiconductors, integrated circuits, and electronic systems during their irradiation. The analysis is focused on the impact of each ionising particles and the cumulative energy deposition of these radiations. The students will be acquainted with the theoretical and practical knowledge about the possible disruption of semiconductor components in electronic devices and devices used to monitor ionising radiation sources. This information offers students in their subsequent practice solve tasks related to the safety and security of the nuclear facilities and ionising radiation sources.
Radiation protection of emergencies
The course is focused on the safety of nuclear facilities and ionising radiation sources to acquaint the students with the theoretical and practical aspects of emergency management. The attention is paid mainly to the understanding of the basic principles and procedures of interventions in response to radiation emergencies, including evaluating its further development. The course also includes the laboratories practice and simulation of finding abandoned radioactive sources in the exterior conditions and a final summarisation of the knowledge and experiences obtained during the intervention in a joint seminar.
Radioanalytical chemistry for forensic analysis
The course acquaints students the principles of the phenomena and methods that occur and that are used in the nuclear forensic sciences – from the background and definitions up to principles and application of the wide range of the existing analytical methods that use radionuclides or ionising radiation for the evaluation of the stable elements and about the methods for assessment of the chosen radioactive elements concerning their evaluation in the environmental samples. By this course graduation, the students obtain basic knowledge required for understanding the subsequent courses of the nuclear forensic methods field. Moreover, the students received the ability to choose an optimal radioanalytical method for a specific application concerning the possibilities of the facility.
The calculation methods of ionising radiation dosimetry and detection
The course is focused on the theoretical and practical knowledge acquisition of the advanced fields of math and stochastic methods usage (method Monte Carlo) and modern computer equipment usage with a focused on the radiation transport simulation in the material and data processing and analysis concerning the dosimetry, ionising radiation application, ionising radiation detection, spectrometry, security problem of the radiation sources, radiation shielding and protection. The knowledge that the student obtains by the graduation of this course is required to implement the calculations connected with evaluating the nuclear facility and ionising radiation sources safety.