Ph.D.Nuclear Safety, Security and Forensics

Czech Technical University in Prague - Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering

Doctoral program Safety and Security of nuclear installations and forensics analyses of nuclear materials and its scientific and research activities are focused on safety and security of nuclear installations, nuclear materials and sources of ionising radiation and their links to safety and forensics methods in the field of nuclear science and engineering. The study is very closely linked with scientific and research activities of individual departments in which students are highly involved.
A unique feature of the program is the scope of the safety of nuclear installations, nuclear materials, materials of dual-use and sources of ionising radiation and its connections to safety, mainly in the field of emergency preparedness and analytical methods applied in nuclear forensic analysis. Such connections between the safety, security, accident prevention and analytical methods used in nuclear forensic analysis with many synergy effects significantly differentiate this study program from existing study programs, and it will create possibilities for highly specialised education for students not only from the Czech Republic but also for students from regions of central Europe. This study program even has an ambition of global reach.
The target group of the described doctoral program consists mainly of graduate students of master's degree programs in the fields of nuclear science and engineering, chemistry, physics with a focus on nuclear engineering, nuclear power engineering, nuclear installations, radiation protection, nuclear chemistry, radioanalytical chemistry, analytical forensic methods applied in chemistry and graduate students of master's degree programs focused on nuclear safeguard, Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, nuclear terrorism, etc.

Graduate profile

The doctoral degree program is a follow-up to the completed master's degree programs such as nuclear engineering, dosimetry, ionising radiation or nuclear chemistry. Thanks to the broad scope of profiling courses also graduate students of the other branches of study with the focus on engineering, chemistry, physics or graduate students of the branches of study with the emphasis on nuclear safety and security with sufficient knowledge of physics, nuclear physics, mathematics and chemistry may apply for this study program.

The graduate's profile consists of broad knowledge of the safe operation of the nuclear installations and sources of ionising radiation, safe usage of nuclear materials and forensic analysis of such materials. Considering graduate's subject of research and topic of the dissertation, graduates will become expert on:

safety and security of nuclear installations, which includes, e.g. construction and operation of nuclear installations (for commercial and research use), nuclear materials and their distribution in such nuclear installations, nuclear safety, emergency preparedness, physical protection of nuclear installations and especially synergy of safety and security of nuclear installations,
safety and security of sources of ionising radiation, calculations of the distribution of ionising radiation, effects of radiation on the human body and response of detectors of ionising radiation, external and internal radiation dose monitoring, assessment of ionising radiation effects on living organisms, principles of radiation protection, emergency preparedness regarding manipulation with sources of ionising radiation, detection systems used for localisation of ionising radiation sources and monitoring.,
* forensic analysis of nuclear materials especially connected with instrumental and radiochemical methods and analytical methods using ionising radiation for nuclear forensic analysis and forensic analysis of dual-use materials,
principles of cybersecurity of nuclear installations and sources of ionising radiation, development of secured hardware and software, cryptologic principles and means of cyberattack detection, administration of the secured IT systems, analysis of the cyberattacks from the view of hackers, simulations of possible threats.