Online Graduate Certificate in Reliability and Maintainability Nuclear Engineering
Reliability and Maintainability Engineering
Program Overview
The Online Graduate Certificate in Reliability and Maintainability Nuclear Engineering is a 12-credit, fully online program designed for working nuclear engineers and graduate students. Students are prepared to enhance the safety, reliability, maintainability, and efficiency of nuclear energy systems and other high-consequence engineered systems. With training in vital skills, graduates will be better prepared to:
- Apply reliability and maintainability engineering principles to nuclear power systems and other safety-critical engineering applications.
- Conduct probabilistic risk assessments and reliability analyses to support risk-informed engineering decisions.
- Develop strategies for predictive maintenance, condition monitoring, and asset management to improve plant safety and operational performance.
- Evaluate component degradation, structural integrity, and lifecycle performance of nuclear systems.
- Support regulatory compliance, safety assurance, and long-term operation of nuclear facilities through data-driven reliability and risk management.
Why Earn This Certificate?
Reliability and maintainability expertise is in growing demand across nuclear engineering fields, and with this online graduate certificate, you can be better equipped to provide that expertise. Whether you’re an engineer, technical professional, or graduate student, you’ll be equipped with the credentials and practical skills to directly improve the resilience, sustainability, and long-term performance of nuclear power plants, advanced reactors, and related energy infrastructure. You’ll learn to apply reliability and maintainability principles to nuclear engineering topics, including:
- Reactor Systems
- Probabilistic Risk Assessment
- Structural Integrity
- Radiation Effects on Materials
- Safety Analysis
- Asset Lifecycle Management
Who This Certificate is For
This program is well-suited for working nuclear engineers, safety engineers, plant reliability engineers, and maintenance professionals seeking formal credentials without pausing their careers. It is also open to graduate students looking to specialize within an engineering degree path.
By earning this certificate, you open new and advanced career paths such as:
- Asset Performance Engineer
- Condition Monitoring Engineer
- Plant Health Engineer
- RAMS Engineer
- System Reliability Engineer
Admission Requirements
- Applicants must meet the minimum criteria established by the UT Knoxville Graduate Council.
- The program accepts students for Fall, Spring, and Summer terms, offering multiple entry points throughout the year to fit the schedules of working professionals.
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Featured Courses
Probabilistic failure models and parameter estimation (maximum likelihood, Bayes techniques). Model identification and comparison, accelerated life tests, failure prediction, system reliability, preventive maintenance, and warranties.
Principles of maintenance and reliability engineering and maintenance management. Topics include information extraction from machinery measurements, rotating machinery diagnostics, nondestructive testing, life prediction, failure models, lubrication oil analysis, establishing a predictive maintenance program, and computerized maintenance management systems.
Qualitative and quantitative techniques for assessing and improving process systems reliability and safety. Probabilistic risk assessment, event tree analysis, fault tree analysis, statistical inference, and associated dependent failure analysis. This is the graduate version of NE 485 and requires additional assignments and expectations for graduate students.
Course is divided into two major components. First half of the course will focus on introducing the students to the concepts of reliability and maintainability and the impact of lean on the reliability of complex systems. The concepts of reliability engineering are utilized to address lean system failures, including equipment failures, human failures, material failures and scheduling failures. Will develop the ability to design systems that are both lean and reliable. The second half of the course will introduce students to specific case studies of systems failures and ask student to develop solutions by considering different dimensions including financial, technical feasibility, risk, safety, security and others. Multi criteria decision making methodologies will be presented to allow students to make decisions when different criteria lead to conflicting solutions.
