Beyond our imagination: Fukushima and the problem of assessing risk

[kristopher]

Beyond our imagination: Fukushima and the problem of assessing risk
BY M. V. RAMANA | 19 APRIL 2011
Article Highlights

- Severe accidents at nuclear reactors have occurred much more frequently than what risk-assessment models predicted.

- The probabilistic risk assessment method does a poor job of anticipating accidents in which a single event, such as a tsunami, causes failures in multiple safety systems.

- Catastrophic nuclear accidents are inevitable, because designers and risk modelers cannot envision all possible ways in which complex systems can fail.

http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/beyond-our-imagination-fukushima-and-the-problem-of-assessing-risk

[exboyfil]

1. My jaw hits the floor by the fact

that liability is limited by law on reactors in the U.S. Anticipated liability is one way that future risk is priced (though imperfectly). Any artificial cap on it is a distortion of the market, and most free marketers are also pro-nuclear. Interesting contradiction.

[DCKit]

3. They don't care because they know the costs will be bourne by society.

Privatize the profits, socialize the risk. It's a cross-industry business model.

[bananas]

2. Good article. nt

[kristopher]

4. I thought so too.