Introduction.Objectives of nuclear safety.Short history of nuclear safety technology.Inventory and localisation of radioactive products in the plant.Safety systems and their functions.Classification of accidents and description of some examples: Classification; Design basis accidents; Beyond design basis accidents.Severe accidents.Dispersion of radioactive releases.Health consequences of releases.The general approach to the safety of the plant and of the site.Defence in depth.Quality assurance.Safety analysis: Deterministic safety analysis; Probabilistic safety analysis.Safety analysis review.Classification of plant components.Notes on some plant components: The reactor pressure vessel; Piping; Valves; Containers.Resistance of plants to earthquakes.Resistance of plants to tornadoes.Resistance to external impacts.Nuclear safety criteria: General characteristics; The U.S. General design criteria; IAEA criteria; EUR criteria; Other sets of general design criteria.Nuclear safety research.Operating experience: Principal sources; Some notable events; The International Nuclear Event Scale.Underground location of nuclear power plants.Underground nuclear tests.Effects of nuclear explosions.Radioactive waste.Safety of fusion reactors.Safety of specific plants and of other activities.Nuclear plants on satellites.Erroneous beliefs in nuclear safety.When can we say that a particular plant is safe?The limits of nuclear safety: the residual risk.Appendices:The Chernobyl accident; Calculation of the accident pressure in a containment; Table of safety criteria; Dose calculations; Simplified thermal analysis of an insufficiently refrigerated core; Excerpts from EUR Criteria; Notes of fracture mechanics; U.S. General design criteria; IAEA Criteria; Primary depressurisation systems; Calculations on thermal-hydraulic transients of the primary system; Calculation programs for the atmospheric dispersion of releases (DR1, DR2, DR1FUM, DR2FUM); Safety cage; Criteria for the Italian site chart; Safety documents; List of contents and sample chapter of the Standard Review Plan; The Three Mile Island accident.Glossary.Web sites.Index.