Severe accidents in the energy sector: comparative perspective

Journal of Hazardous Materials
Stefan HirschbergRoberto Dones

Abstract

This paper addresses one of the controversial issues in the current comparative studies of the environmental and health impacts of energy systems, i.e. the treatment of severe accidents. The work covers technical aspects of severe accidents and thus primarily reflects an engineering perspective on the energy-related risk issues, though some social implications are also touched upon. The assessment concerns fossil energy sources (coal, oil and gas), nuclear power and hydro power. The scope is not limited to the power production (conversion) step of these energy chains but, whenever applicable, also includes exploration, extraction, transports, processing, storage and waste disposal. With the exception of the nuclear chain the focus of the work has been on the evaluation of the historical experience of accidents. The basis used for this evaluation is a comprehensive database ENSAD (Energy-related Severe Accident Database), established by the Paul Scherrer Institut (PSI). For hypothetical nuclear accidents the probabilistic technique has also been employed and extended to cover the assessment of economic consequences of such accidents. The broader picture obtained by coverage of full energy chains leads on the world-wide basis to ...Continue Reading

Citations

Mar 24, 2016·Risk Analysis : an Official Publication of the Society for Risk Analysis·Spencer WheatleyDidier Sornette
Jul 8, 2020·Risk Analysis : an Official Publication of the Society for Risk Analysis·Anna KalininaPeter Burgherr
Jun 18, 2020·International Journal of Injury Control and Safety Promotion·Jelena IvazPavle Stojković

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