Probabilistic safety assessment development in the United States 1972–1990

Abstract The purpose of this article is to honor F.R. Farmer for his contribution to the creation of the discipline of probabilistic safety assessment (PSA) as it applies to nuclear power plant (NPP) safety, and to review some of the important contributions to its development in the United States from the WASH-1400 Reactor Safety Report to NUREG-1150, An assessment of risks for five US nuclear power plants .