1. Introduction to Power Systems.- 2. Introduction to Blackouts.- 3. Definition of Reliability and Risk.- 4. Probability Theory.- 5. Fault Tree Analysis.- 6. Event Tree Analysis.- 7. Binary Decision Diagram.- 8. Markov Processes.- 9. Reliability Block Diagram.- 10. Common Cause Failures.- 11. Methods for Power Flow Analysis.- 12. Generating Capacity Methods.- 13. Reliability and Performance Indicators of Power Plants.- 14. Distribution and Transmission System Reliability Measures.- 15. Power System Reliability Method.- 16. Linear Programming, - 17. Dynamic Programming.- 18. Genetic Algorithm.- 19. Simulated Annealing.- 20. Application of Reliability and Optimization Methods