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Risk Assessment in RegulationOn this page: In assessing public safety and developing regulations for nuclear reactors and materials, the NRC traditionally used a deterministic approach by asking the following questions: What can go wrong? Now, the NRC uses a risk-informed and performance-based approach by also asking the following questions: How likely is it that something will go wrong? Risk is part of everyday life. For example, there is risk in driving to the store. Fortunately, however, we seldom have an accident while driving to the store and, when we do have an accident, the resultant injuries are usually not serious. Nonetheless, this example illustrates the two elements of risk — the likelihood (or probability) of an accident and the seriousness of the resultant injuries (or consequences). Combining the probability of an accident with its consequences gives us a measure of risk. For instance, the consequences of a large meteor striking your house would be devastating, but the risk is low because the probability of such an accident is very small. The NRC's Concept of RiskThe NRC's concept of risk combines the probability of an accident with the consequences of that accident. In other words, the NRC examines the following questions:
The NRC then uses risk information to reduce the probability of an accident and to mitigate its consequences. The following three activities illustrate this concept of risk: climbing Mt. Everest, skydiving, and riding a unicycle.
The NRC uses Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) to estimate risk by computing real numbers to determine what can go wrong, how likely is it, and what are its consequences. Information on NRC Risk AssessmentThe Risk-Informed and Performance-Based Plan (RPP) Concepts of Risk and Performance in the NRC's Regulation History of the NRC's Risk-Informed Regulatory Programs Contact Us About Risk-Informed, Performance-Based Regulation. |
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