Siting considerations based on core-melt consequences

The cost penalty in terms of radiological impact of nuclear power plant siting away from large population centres has been thoroughly investigated. The analysis is based on a nuclear facility located anywhere further than 20 km from the boundaries of a metropolitan area (> 500,000 people), with a low average population density (50 persons/km2 or less) beyond its boundaries. The analysis, however, can be easily extended to cover any foreseeable situation. The emphasis is placed on core-melt accidents and methodology is developed to include partial as well as full cloud coverage of the population centre with wind flow direction as an additional feature. (author)