This presentation offers a conceptual framework for ranking the relative gravity of diverse risks. The framework identifies the different aspects including moral considerations that should inform the evaluation and comparison of diverse risks and in turn shape the decisions for risk mitigation. A common definition of risk includes two dimensions: the probability of occurrence and the...
The role and character of risk analysis and risk assessments have undergone significant changes over the last 3-4 decades. From being mainly a procedural instrument to document that nominal risks associated with a given decision are under control and compliant with specified targets, risk analysis and risk assessments are increasingly utilized for optimizing or ranking decisions based on...
Fire protection in US nuclear power plants was long regulated under a set of federal regulations called 10 CFR 50.48 Appendix R that prescribed fire protection measures. In 2001, the National Fire Protection Association issued NFPA 805, a performance based standard for fire protection at nuclear power plants. This standard, endorsed by the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), allowed plants...
Fire safety engineering is still a rather young engineering discipline which is under a rapid development. Historically, fire safety issues have been treated by prescriptive means based on lessons learned from incidents that had occurred. The practical problem occurs when there is no reference to be used. The traditional solution has been to rely on expert judgement, often with limited...
In framework of process industries (e.g., chemical and petrochemical facilities), major accidents are accidental events connected with the use of hazardous materials in an industrial site. Major fires, explosions, toxic dispersions/contaminations constitute examples of possible events leading to serious danger to human health and/or the environment. These events feature high magnitude or...
A number of Swedish acts and ordinances give the basic requirements of facility safety. None of
these are tailored for ESS, hence interpretation is required for appropriate application.
The Licensee shall as far as reasonable possible, based on existing technical experience and economical and social circumstances, undertake measures to limit 1) production of radioactive waste, 2) release of...
BLEVE explosions keep occurring from time to time in process plants, storage and transport by road or rail. Concerning the materials, the highest contribution is that from LPG and water, but many other liquids can also be involved; depending on their properties, the explosion can be followed by a fireball or a toxic cloud.
Although diverse models and methodologies have been proposed to...
Fire safety codes around the world are based on two different approaches to regulate building fire safety: Prescriptive or performance-based design. The prescriptive approach, as implemented in most traditional fire safety codes, allows for a simple and effective risk control for the majority of buildings, but offers little flexibility to the designers and is difficult to apply in specific...
Decisions concerning investments into fire safety are usually made based on the reduction of risks, whereas the costs of fire safety measures are often neglected. However, for a thorough assessment, both aspects need to be considered and a balanced ratio between costs and risk reduction should be aspired. Such an assessment leads to optimised fire safety measures.
We show how quantitative risk...
cState-of-the-art seismic risk assessment develops in a fully probabilistic framework due to the large uncertainties inherent to the earthquake characteristics and to the seismic response of civil structure/infrastructure. The consolidated approach is that of performance based-earthquake engineering (PBEE) in which the target is to compute the expected annual loss due to seismic damage (e.g.,...
