Reliability technology and nuclear power

This paper reviews some of the history and status of nuclear reliability and the evolution of this subject from art towards science. It shows that that probability theory is the appropriate and essential mathematical language of this subject. The authors emphasize that it is more useful to view probability not as a $prime$frequency$prime$, i.e., not as the result of a statistical experiment, but rather as a measure of state of confidence or a state of knowledge. They also show that the probabilistic, quantitative approach has a considerable history of application in the electric power industry in the area of power system planning. Finally, the authors show that the decision theory notion of utility provides a point of view from which risks, benefits, safety, and reliability can be viewed in a unified way thus facilitating understanding, comparison, and communication. 29 refs