Severe Accident Consequence Assessment Regulatory Guidance: A Critique

摘要

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) relies on a comparison of the costs and benefits of certain actions to inform many types of regulatory decisions that require consideration of severe (beyond-design-basis) accidents. These include license renewals, new reactor design certifications, combined operating licenses, and the resolution of generic safety issues. These analyses in turn require an estimation of the radiological and economic impacts of severe accidents. Given the fundamental role of these analyses, it is important to ensure that they are as accurate as possible and conservatively account for sensitivity to variations in input parameters that may have high uncertainties. However, the NRC-approved consequence assessment guidelines do not capture some important uncertainties that could have a significant effect on the outcome of regulatory decisions.