The radioactivity release risk of a plutonium laboratory in case of an internal fire

Abstract Within the framework of a study concerning the hazard potential of a nuclear research facility, the plutonium laboratories were investigated by using probabilistic risk assessment methods. For the initiating event: ‘Fire outside the working hours in the plutonium laboratories’, the accident sequences have been determined by construction of the relevant event tree. The frequencies of the accident sequences with the consequence of plutonium release were calculated by using fault trees and the component failure data. The results show that the release of even small amounts of plutonium has a low probability.