Ha Hoang Bui

Photograph Ha
Title Research Scientist
Department Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering
Biography

Ha Bui is currently a Research Scientist in the Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering (NPRE). His research focuses on advancing the science and application of Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) for existing Light Water Reactor-based Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) and advanced nuclear reactors through advanced modeling and simulation solutions. Ha contributes to multiple research projects at the Socio-Technical Risk Analysis (SoTeRiA) Research Lab, including a Department of Energy (DOE) Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP) research project on “I-PRA Decision-Making Algorithm and Computational Platform to Develop Safe and Cost-Effective Strategies for the Deployment of New Technologies” (2019-2022), a DOE NEUP project on “Probabilistic Validation and Risk Importance Ranking Methodology for Automation Trustworthiness and Transparency in Nuclear Power Plants” (2021-2024), a DOE-sponsored project on “Fire Risk Importance Ranking Analysis” (2019-2020), and several research projects on “Advancing the I-PRA Methodology for Fire Risk Analysis” (2018-present).

Ha Bui received his Ph.D. from NPRE UIUC under the supervision of Prof. Zahra Mohaghegh. During his Ph.D., he established a theoretical foundation for incorporating time and space into PRA and developed an algorithm to enhance the spatiotemporal resolution in PRAs of NPPs. He also advanced the spatiotemporal modeling of coupled human-physics failure mechanisms to support External Control Room Human Reliability Analysis in PRAs of NPPs. In addition, Ha created a theoretical foundation and a methodological platform for a Probabilistic Validation (PV) methodology that advances the scientific usage of epistemic uncertainty and risk-informed acceptability criteria to facilitate the validity evaluation for simulation predictions, especially when empirical validation data are limited. The PV methodology was computationalized in a Python-based platform, leveraging the Risk Analysis Virtual Environment (RAVEN) toolkit developed by the Idaho National Laboratory, and has been demonstrated in the context of Fire PRA. Ha holds a M.Sc. in Nuclear Power Plant Engineering from KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School (South Korea; 2014) and a B.E. in Environmental Engineering from Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology (Vietnam; 2009).

In addition to his research, Ha has worked full-time for five years and part-time and remotely for seven years at the Power Engineering Consulting Company No. 2 (PECC2) in Vietnam, where he was involved in several power plant development projects. During his Ph.D. and postdoctoral training at NPRE, he also helped prepare funding proposals for research grants from industry,

national labs, and federal agencies. He supports PRA education by actively assisting with three PRA-related courses at NPRE (NPRE 461, NPRE 561, and NPRE 200) and mentoring undergraduate and graduate research assistants working with SoTeRiA.

Ha’s current research interests include verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification, human reliability analysis, modeling and simulation of human and physical failure phenomena, Fire PRA, automation trustworthiness and transparency, physical and cyber security risk analysis, and risk-informed decision-making and regulation.

Email habui2@nospam66059737b3a1c.illinois.edu
Office 119 Talbot Laboratory
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