Masters Theses

Date of Award

8-2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Nuclear Engineering

Major Professor

Steven E. Skutnik

Committee Members

Howard L. Hall, Jamie B. Coble

Abstract

In the field of commercial nuclear reactor security, the concept of target sets has matured since its invention in the late 1980s and early 1990s to the codification of target set regulations by the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2009 and publishing of official guidance in 2010. Target sets have evolved into a complex and useful tool to develop and test a protective strategy. By their definition, target sets are the “minimum combination of equipment or operator actions which, if all are prevented from performing their intended safety function or prevented from being accomplished, would likely result in significant core damage” and are strongly related to probabilistic risk assessment. Though current guidance encourages the use of probabilistic risk assessment to inform the development of target sets, there exist no tools to assist in developing the hundreds of thousands of equipment combinations that meet the definition of target sets.

This report seeks to outline the requirements for a computer code system that would use a probabilistic risk assessment to provide the backbone for the development and maintenance of target sets for a commercial nuclear reactor or other complex facility.

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