Proving the safety of a nuclear power plant

The safety demonstration of a nuclear power plant in the frame of a construction or operating license is achieved by deterministic safety analyses and detailed testing of the design and operation of safety systems. Knowledge from probabilistic safety analyses allows proving of risk-dominant incidents and removal of design weaknesses. The measure for official judgement of safety systems is the state of science and engineering. Precondition for all safety demonstrations, whether deterministic or probabilistic, is that the nuclear power plant is operated and maintained properly and that the operation personnel are well trained to be able to react correctly in case of an incident. The nuclear power plant operator has thus a dominating role in plant safety. 1 fig., 1 tab