A method for estimating the risk from reactor installations is presented and applied to the Omega West Reactor, an 8-MW(th) research reactor at Los Alamos, New Mexico. The method, which considers both accident probabilities and the probability of various wind and weather conditions, estimates individual risk as a function of direction and distance from the reactor and estimates the total detriment to the community as a consequence of reactor accidents. The somatic risk due to thyroid carcinoma from 131I uptake, the somatic risks of leukemia and other neoplasms from whole body irradiation, the genetic risk, and nonspecific life shortening were considered. The individual somatic risk at the nearest habitation was found to be 5 × 10−10/year and the total detriment to the community (all the above risks summed over the total population) was 4.5 × 10−4 death per year of reactor operation.