Severe accident reactor risks and the potential for risk reduction

Sandia National Laboratories is performing the Severe Accident Risk Rebaselining and Risk Reduction Program (SARRP) in order to incorporate insights from ongoing programs and task forces toward a rebaselining of reactor risks and of the overall uncertainty. A second objective is to evaluate the benefits and costs of proposed new safety features designed to reduce the frequencies and/or consequences of severe accidents. Results to date indicate that onsite financial risks are generally higher than offsite financial risks, that the uncertainties in the offsite risks are much larger than those in the onsite risks, and that expensive safety options are probably not cost-effective. These results will be a key input to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's upcoming decision making on severe accidents.