Technique for appraising preventive safety at nuclear facilities

Developing a more effective way to appraise the safety of operating nuclear facilities was the primary objective of a recent study at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL). This paper summarizes a new technique developed for appraising the safety of nuclear facilities from the viewpoint of safety features that can contribute to accident prevention and hazard control. It evaluates the various systems of an operating nuclear facility to determine how well the facility uses or supports the safety features that are needed to preclude an accident of control a hazard