Risk-Informed Support of Nuclear Power Plant Emergency Zoning

The report analyses the background, objectives and current status of the information basis leading to the definition of risk and emergency zones around nuclear power plants (NPPs). Although dependable plant-specific Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) of Level 2 and/or Level 3 could provide sufficiently detailed input to define the georgraphical dimension of a NPP's risk and emergency zones, the analysis of the status in some European and other countries shows that other, basically "deterministic" approaches are used in practice. Based on currently used decision criteria in defining NPP emergency zones in selected European countries, issues such as definition of emergency protection measures are discussed. Recommendations are given to overcome this gap in more comprehensive use of available risk information.JRC.F.4-Nuclear design safet

Risk Informed Support of Decision Making in Nuclear Power Plant Emergency Zoning - Generic Framework towards Harmonising NPP Emergency Planning Practices

The report provides a systematic overview of the essential aspects of risk informed support of decision making (RIDM) in nuclear power plant (NPP) emergency zoning (EZ) as a contribution to harmonising strategic practices in the area. Owing to the state-of-the-art understanding and increased characterisation of NPP severe accidents, overall management of them should be analysed as an integrated complex process. The interrelationship of NPP emergency operating procedures, safety and risk assessments, severe accident management guidelines, and emergency off-site actions should be planned and organised to minimize the consequences of such accidents. A deterministic approach, coupled with both probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) technology and PSA results can play significant role in the development of relevant nuclear utility, regulatory and all stakeholders policies. The report describes the background, objectives and current state of a corresponding activity within JRC-IE's Analysis and Management of Nuclear Accidents (AMA) Action on probabilistic safety / risk assessment methodologies and practices for RIDM approach applied to NPP EZ. The approach is interdisciplinary, based on integration of PSA technology, severe accident phenomenology, and radiological protection.JRC.F.4-Nuclear design safet

Risk & Emergency Zoning around Nuclear Power Plants and other Major Hazardous Industrial Installations

This paper analyses background and current status of the information basis leading to definition of risk and emergency zones around Nuclear Power Plants in different countries in Europe and beyond. There is a striking contrast in the extent of using probabilistic information to define emergency zones between the nuclear and other high risk industry sectors, such as chemical process industry, and the reasons for these differences are not entirely clear, but seem to be more related to risk perception than actual risk potential. Based on consensus discussions at a recent JRC/OECD International Seminar on Risk & Emergency Zoning around NPPs, recommendations are given in the areas of more comprehensive use of available risk information for risk zoning purposes, risk communication, and comparative energy risk assessment.JRC.F.4-Nuclear design safet

Determining the Quality of Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) for Applications in Nuclear Power Plants

Probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) of nuclear power plants (NPPs) complements the traditional deterministic analysis and is widely recognized as a comprehensive, structured approach to identifying accident scenarios and deriving numerical estimates of risks dealing with NPP operation and associated plant vulnerabilities. Increasingly, during the last years, PSA has been broadly applied to support numerous applications and risk-informed decisions on various operational and regulatory matters. The expanded use of PSA in the risk-informed decision making process requires that PSA possess certain features to ensure its technical consistency and quality. This publication is aimed to further promote the use and application of PSA techniques in IAEA Member States. The publication provides a comprehensive list of PSA applications and describes what technical features (termed ‘attributes’) of a PSA should be satisfied to reliably support the PSA applications of interest. A consideration has been also given to the basic set of attributes characterizing a ‘base case PSA’ that is performed with the purpose of assessing the overall plant safety. This publication can support PSA practitioners in appropriate planning of a PSA project taking into account possible uses of the PSA in the future. The publication can be also used by reviewers as an aid in assessing the quality of PSAs and judging the adequacy of a PSA for particular applications. In addition, it is also foreseen to use the publication to support the independent peer reviews conducted by the IAEA in the framework of the International Probabilistic Safety Assessment Review Team (IPSART) safety service.JRC.F.4-Nuclear design safet