Syllabus for NUC-351

NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTATION AND CONTROL


COURSE DESCRIPTION

This course encompasses the principles of operation of various types of instruments in the nuclear industry to measure temperature, pressure, level, flow, position, and radiation. The student will gain a broad range of working knowledge of temperature, pressure, level, and flow sensors, position indicators, radiation detectors, and control systems. Component theory and design, system hardware, and integrated operation as applied to commercial nuclear systems will be explored.

COURSE OBJECTIVES

After completing this course, you should be able to:

CO 1        Analyze and interpret pressure, temperature, level, flow, and radiation data from nuclear systems in order to identify corrective actions or improvements.

CO 2        Describe the operation and maintenance of standard pressure, temperature, flow, and level sensors including calibration, and explain how the data is electronically transformed into numerical readings in standard pressure, temperature, and flow units.

CO 3        Justify the components comprising a radiation detection system that convert the raw data into standard readings of exposure and dose.

CO 4        Select and locate the necessary pressure, temperature, and flow sensors in a coolant system loop of a commercial PWR.

CO 5        Describe the electronic operation of a three-element level control system.

CO 6        Describe a nuclear instrumentation system that is capable of covering the dynamic range such as for a radiation monitoring in a gaseous radioactive waste effluent line in a commercial nuclear power plant.

COURSE MATERIALS

You will need the following materials to do the work of the course.

Required Textbook

Supplemental Reading Materials:

Reference Material:

COURSE STRUCTURE

Nuclear Instrumentation and Control is a three-credit, online course, consisting of six modules. Modules include topics, learning objectives, study materials, and activities. Module titles are listed below.

Course objectives covered in this module: CO 1, CO 2, CO 4

Course objectives covered in this module: CO 1, CO 2

Course objectives covered in this module: CO 2, CO 5

Course objectives covered in this module: CO 3, CO 6

Course objectives covered in this module: CO 2, CO 3, CO 5, CO 6

Course objectives covered in this module: CO 2, CO 5

ASSESSMENT METHODS

For your formal work in the course, you are required to participate in online discussion forums, complete written assignments, take a proctored online midterm examination, and complete a final paper. See below for more details.

Consult the Course Calendar for due dates.

Promoting Originality

One or more of your course activities may utilize a tool designed to promote original work and evaluate your submissions for plagiarism. More information about this tool is available in SafeAssign.

Discussion Forums

This course requires you to participate in four graded discussion forums. There is also an ungraded but required Introductions Forum in Module 1.

The discussion forum topics allow for interaction among students and the mentor. The discussions help promote a sense of online community and encourage you to bring your own experiences and insights to bear on the issues raised in the readings. All discussions in this course are asynchronous, threaded discussions.

Participation in online discussions involves two distinct activities: an initial response to a posted question and subsequent comments on classmates' responses. Meaningful participation is relevant to the content, adds value, and advances the discussion. Comments such as "I agree" and "ditto" are not considered value-adding participation. Therefore, when you agree or disagree with a classmate, a reading, or your mentor, state and support your agreement or disagreement. You will be evaluated on the quality and quantity of your participation. Responses and comments should be properly proofread and edited, professional, and respectful.

To receive credit for your online participation, you must make a substantive contribution to the discussion forum. A “substantive contribution" means writing at least a short paragraph summarizing your ideas or experiences on the topic and responding to at least two other student's contribution in a timely and material way (i.e., expanding on, agreeing with, or disagreeing with a student's response in specific terms). Vague statements of agreement or encouragement will not be considered substantive.

Located within the Evaluation Rubrics folder on the course website is the rubric used in the grading of online discussions.

Written Assignments

You are required to complete six written assignments. The written assignments are on a variety of topics associated with the course modules. Most problems are based on the required reading materials and module PowerPoint slides.

The written assignment questions allow for you to demonstrate your understanding of important course topics and should help you to prepare for your midterm examination. Responses should be thorough and complete and include appropriate citations where needed.

Midterm Examination

You are required to take a closed-book, proctored midterm examination.

The midterm exam is two hours long and consists of 25 multiple-choice questions. The exam covers materials assigned in Modules 1, 2, and 3 of the course.

For the midterm, you are required to use the University's Online Proctor Service (OPS). Please refer to the Examinations and Proctors section of the Online Student Handbook (see General Information area of the course website) for further information about scheduling and taking online exams and for all exam policies and procedures. You are strongly advised to schedule your exam within the first week of the semester.

Online exams are administered through the course website. Consult the Course Calendar for the official dates of exam weeks.

Statement about Cheating

You are on your honor not to cheat during an exam. Cheating means:

If there is evidence that you have cheated or plagiarized in an exam, the exam will be declared invalid, and you will fail the course.

Final Paper

In lieu of a final exam, you are required to complete a final paper (worth 30 percent of your course grade).

Your final research paper must be 2000 to 2500 words (8 to 10 pages, double-spaced). You are required to write about the ESBWR Emergency Core Cooling System (ECCS) and describe the function of each of four subsystems and how it is initiated. The final paper entails two stages:

Consult your Course Calendar for due dates.

GRADING AND EVALUATION

Your grade in the course will be determined as follows:

All activities will receive a numerical grade of 0–100. You will receive a score of 0 for any work not submitted. Your final grade in the course will be a letter grade. Letter grade equivalents for numerical grades are as follows:

A

=

93–100

C+

=

78–79

A–

=

90–92

C

=

73–77

B+

=

88–89

C–

=

70–72

B

=

83–87

D

=

60–69

B–

=

80–82

F

=

Below 60

To receive credit for the course, you must earn a letter grade of C or better (for an area of study course) or D or better (for a course not in your area of study), based on the weighted average of all assigned course work (e.g., exams, assignments, discussion postings).

STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

First Steps to Success

To succeed in this course, take the following first steps:

Study Tips

Consider the following study tips for success:

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

Thomas Edison State University is committed to maintaining academic quality, excellence, and honesty. The University expects all members of its community to share the commitment to academic integrity, an essential component of a quality academic experience.

Students at Thomas Edison State University are expected to exhibit the highest level of academic citizenship. In particular, students are expected to read and follow all policies, procedures, and program information guidelines contained in publications; pursue their learning goals with honesty and integrity; demonstrate that they are progressing satisfactorily and in a timely fashion by meeting course deadlines and following outlined procedures; observe a code of mutual respect in dealing with mentors, staff, and other students; behave in a manner consistent with the standards and codes of the profession in which they are practicing; keep official records updated regarding changes in name, address, telephone number, or email address; and meet financial obligations in a timely manner. Students not practicing good academic citizenship may be subject to disciplinary action including suspension, dismissal, or financial holds on records.

All members of the University community are responsible for reviewing the Academic Code of Conduct Policy in the University Catalog and online at www.tesu.edu.

Academic Dishonesty

Thomas Edison State University expects all of its students to approach their education with academic integrity—the pursuit of scholarly activity free from fraud and deception. All mentors and administrative staff members at the University insist on strict standards of academic honesty in all courses. Academic dishonesty undermines this objective. Academic dishonesty can take the following forms:

Plagiarism

Thomas Edison State University is committed to helping students understand the seriousness of plagiarism, which is defined as using the work and ideas of others without proper citation. The University takes a strong stance against plagiarism, and students found to be plagiarizing are subject to discipline under the academic code of conduct policy.

If you copy phrases, sentences, paragraphs, or whole documents word-for-word—or if you paraphrase by changing a word here and there—without identifying the author or without identifying it as a direct quote, then you are plagiarizing. Please keep in mind that this type of identification applies to Internet sources as well as to print-based sources. Copying and pasting from the Internet without using quotation marks and without acknowledging sources constitutes plagiarism. (For information about how to cite Internet sources, see Online Student Handbook > Academic Standards > Citing Sources.)

Accidentally copying the words and ideas of another writer does not excuse the charge of plagiarism. It is easy to jot down notes and ideas from many sources and then write your own paper without knowing which words are your own and which are someone else’s. It is more difficult to keep track of each and every source. However, the conscientious writer who wishes to avoid plagiarizing never fails to keep careful track of sources.

Always be aware that if you write without acknowledging the sources of your ideas, you run the risk of being charged with plagiarism.

Clearly, plagiarism, no matter the degree of intent to deceive, defeats the purpose of education. If you plagiarize deliberately, you are not educating yourself, and you are wasting your time on courses meant to improve your skills. If you plagiarize through carelessness, you are deceiving yourself.

For examples of unintentional plagiarism, advice on when to quote and when to paraphrase, and information about writing assistance, click the links provided below.

Examples of Unintentional Plagiarism

When to Quote and When to Paraphrase

Writing Assistance at Smarthinking

Disciplinary Process for Plagiarism

Acts of both intentional and unintentional plagiarism violate the Academic Code of Conduct.

If an incident of plagiarism is an isolated minor oversight or an obvious result of ignorance of proper citation requirements, the mentor may handle the matter as a learning exercise. Appropriate consequences may include the completion of tutorials, assignment rewrites, or any other reasonable learning tool in addition to a lower grade for the assignment or course. The mentor will notify the student and appropriate dean of the consequence by e-mail.

If the plagiarism appears intentional and/or is more than an isolated incident, the mentor will refer the matter to the appropriate dean, who will gather information about the violation(s) from the mentor and student, as necessary. The dean will review the matter and notify the student in writing of the specifics of the charge and the sanction to be imposed.

Possible sanctions include:

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