Korean Perspective for Integrated Deterministic-Probabilistic Safety Assessment and its Synergetic Strategy with Conventional Methods

Abstract

The PSA (Probabilistic Safety Assessment) is presented as a method of comprehensively evaluating the types of accidents that can occur at nuclear power plants. One of the key components to obtain technical success was the introduction of event tree analysis, and its strength and weakness has been reviewed and enhanced with the term, for instance, Integrated Deterministic-Probabilistic Safety Assessment (IDPSA) since 1980s. However, the technical and policy maturity of IDPSA appears to have room for improvement: the terminologies need to be arranged internationally, and there are no official standards or guidelines for the method itself. Due to a misperception of IDPSA, there are even concerns that appropriate contribution in risk assessment cannot be made. For this reason, surveys and focus group interviews, sharing development experiences, and the direction of regulation and R&D on IDPSA were conducted targeting PSA experts in Korea. In order to support such process, authors have structured an overview of the development history and technical features of IDPSA. Finally, we will explore the ways to achieve synergy between the deterministic safety analysis and PSA, which may the origin of motivation how to deal with dynamic variability more properly such that an undue risk can be minimized.