A comparison of commercial/industry and nuclear weapons safety concepts

Conference · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1996

OSTI ID:266630

Bennett, R R; Summers, D A

In this paper the authors identify factors which influence the safety philosophy used in the US commercial/industrial sector and compare them against those factors which influence nuclear weapons safety. Commercial/industrial safety is guided by private and public safety standards. Generally, private safety standards tend to emphasize product reliability issues while public (i.e., government) safety standards tend to emphasize human factors issues. Safety in the nuclear weapons arena is driven by federal requirements and memoranda of understanding (MOUs) between the Departments of Defense and Energy. Safety is achieved through passive design features integrated into the nuclear weapon. Though the common strand between commercial/industrial and nuclear weapons safety is the minimization of risk posed to the general population (i.e., public safety), the authors found that each sector tends to employ a different safety approach to view and resolve high-consequence safety issues.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 266630
• Report Number(s): SAND--96-1579C; CONF-960869--10; ON: DE96012928
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

45 MILITARY TECHNOLOGY, WEAPONRY, AND NATIONAL DEFENSE
ACCIDENTS
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
DESIGN
HUMAN FACTORS
INDUSTRY
MATERIALS HANDLING
NUCLEAR WEAPONS
SAFETY
SAFETY STANDARDS