Fear of public negativity has resulted in a overly conservative approach to design and safety and measured criteria. This conservatism has yielded safe facilities but the results are often inconsistent in the degree to which different safety measures contribute to overall safety and public heath. The panel will review the thesis that a more consistent assessment of safety that is more realistic as opposed to overly conservative is both pragmatic, cost-effective and productive. The historical role of the US Atomic Energy Commission ‘Rasmussen Study’ is used as a starting point in progression of probabilistic based assessment of safety. The technical issues raised by the Rasmussen Study are discussed related to present day risk-informed assessments.

Reducing America's carbon footprint through nuclear energy: Assessment of safety and measured criteria

255th National Meeting (2018)

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