Methodology of probabilistic safety assessment for transportation of radioactive material
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Manorma Kumar
and
Guillem Cortes-Rossell
Abstract
The paper is focused on how to apply the Probabilistic Safety Assessment (PSA) methodology to assess the nuclear safety risks associated with the transportation of radioactive material. The methodology is comprehensive and covers the different mode of transports (for example, by road, by train, by ship and by air) used for the transportation of radioactive material. This methodology can be applied to any specific mode of transportation of radioactive material as well as to any specific country. The systematic assessment starts with identification of risk associated with transportation mode and its initiating events to analyze what can go wrong in transportation of radioactive material and how likely it can be. The accident involving the radioactive material has sensitive information and this information is not publicly available, therefore the generic accident data can be utilized to develop the probabilistic models and quantify the risk associated with radioactive material transportation. Another fact is the transportation of radioactive material accidents are extremely rare, consequently the associated statistics are insufficient for the development of PSA models. The lack of statistical data induced the need to use the generic accident data for predicting accident frequency estimations. The paper explores the feasibility of using probabilistic methods to assess the safety risks associated with radioactive material transport. The paper describes how to perform the comprehensive probabilistic assessment and creating a generic accident event tree that is based on road traffic accident data. The focus of the event tree is to outline a range of different traffic accident scenarios and their respective probability of occurrence and its consequences.
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Research ethics: Not applicable.
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Author contributions: The authors have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.
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Competing interests: The authors state no conflict of interest.
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Research funding: None declared.
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Data availability: Not applicable.
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Comprehensive review of surface contamination in nuclear waste waters: identification, quantification, and mitigation strategies
- Methodology of probabilistic safety assessment for transportation of radioactive material
- A new approach to determine abnormality of radioactive discharges from pressurized water reactors and to derive abnormality indicators correlated with a specific causal event
- A critical analysis of the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in enhancing nuclear waste management
- Design study of gas-cooled fast reactor with natural uranium as fuel employing modified CANDLE shuffling strategy in the axial direction
- Synthesis, structural transformation and magnetic properties of the Nd(III)-doped Fe3−xNd x O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.9): an analogue for actinicles immobilization
- Examination of the use of thorium-based fuel for burning minor actinides in European sodium cooled fast reactor
- Solitary wave form of reaction rate in graphite diffusive medium using different neutron absorbers
- Evaluation of the unavailability of the primary circuit of Triga SSR reactor, importance factors and risk criteria for its components
- Thermal-hydraulic simulation of loss of flow accident for WWR-S research reactor
- A quick parameter configuration tool for SCHISM’s ocean transport simulation of radioactive materials
- Main heat transport system configuration influence on steam drum level control and safety for a pressure tube type boiling water reactor with multiple interconnected loops
- Testing the thermal performance of water cooling towers
- Design a robust intelligent power controller for pressurized water reactor using particle swarm optimization algorithm
- Calendar of events
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Comprehensive review of surface contamination in nuclear waste waters: identification, quantification, and mitigation strategies
- Methodology of probabilistic safety assessment for transportation of radioactive material
- A new approach to determine abnormality of radioactive discharges from pressurized water reactors and to derive abnormality indicators correlated with a specific causal event
- A critical analysis of the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in enhancing nuclear waste management
- Design study of gas-cooled fast reactor with natural uranium as fuel employing modified CANDLE shuffling strategy in the axial direction
- Synthesis, structural transformation and magnetic properties of the Nd(III)-doped Fe3−xNd x O4 (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.9): an analogue for actinicles immobilization
- Examination of the use of thorium-based fuel for burning minor actinides in European sodium cooled fast reactor
- Solitary wave form of reaction rate in graphite diffusive medium using different neutron absorbers
- Evaluation of the unavailability of the primary circuit of Triga SSR reactor, importance factors and risk criteria for its components
- Thermal-hydraulic simulation of loss of flow accident for WWR-S research reactor
- A quick parameter configuration tool for SCHISM’s ocean transport simulation of radioactive materials
- Main heat transport system configuration influence on steam drum level control and safety for a pressure tube type boiling water reactor with multiple interconnected loops
- Testing the thermal performance of water cooling towers
- Design a robust intelligent power controller for pressurized water reactor using particle swarm optimization algorithm
- Calendar of events
