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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
H. W. Lewis
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 91 | Number 2 | October 1985 | Pages 220-222
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE85-A27443
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the performance of probabilistic risk assessments, in which there are inevitably large uncertainties, it is customary to characterize the computed probabilities in terms of their medians. When this is done, it is incorrect to add the probabilities of different accident sequences to find an overall probability of some consequence (like core melt), or to add the risks of the members of a population of reactors to find the societal risk. The error is not only one in principle, but is substantial when the uncertainties are large. In addition, the uncertainties are reduced when the probabilities are combined properly. Some examples are given.