Probabilistic risk assessment: an emerging aid to nuclear power plant safety regulation
Probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) is a method of quantifying the probabilities of potential accidents and their consequences at nuclear power plants. Nuclear utilities and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) have used PRA since 1975 to help improve plant safety and thereby reduce risks to human health and the environment. GAO believes that NRC is making reasonable use of PRA. However, the uses and effectiveness of PRA are still evolving. Since relatively few empirical data on actual plant accidents are available, PRA analyses are and will continue to be affected by many unknowns and uncertainties about internal plant behavior, as well as external events, such as floods. GAO therefore cautions that NRC should not use PRA risk estimates as the sole or primary basis for regulatory decisions. Rather, NRC should use PRA to supplement its more traditional analytical and engineering methods.
- Research Organization:
- General Accounting Office, Washington, DC (USA). Resources, Community and Economic Development Div.
- OSTI ID:
- 5113782
- Report Number(s):
- GAO/RCED-85-11; ON: TI86900085
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Report to The Chairman, Subcommittee on Energy Conservation and Power, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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