Integrated Risk Assessment of Safety, Security, and Safeguards

Abstract

The peaceful use of nuclear energy has been pursued for more than half a century, and even after the catastrophic disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in 2011, a new market in East Asia has been growing from the viewpoint of stable supply of nuclear energy. Countermeasures against malicious aircraft attacks have been introduced worldwide after the 9/11 terrorist attack in 2001 as synergies between safety and security. Although safeguards and security communities have different histories and technical aspects compared to safety, not only the mitigation plans as emergency preparedness but also a risk assessment as a supplement to the current requirements could be developed to promote synergism between safety, security, and safeguards (3S). The optimal installment of 3S countermeasures could be encouraged by a risk assessment to enhance reliability, robustness, and transparency of those facilities. One of the synergies of the integrated 3S risk assessment is a 3S by Design (3SBD) approach for new nuclear facilities. An introduction of 3SBD into the conceptual design stage increases regulatory effectiveness as well as operational efficiency and also reduces expensive and time-consuming retrofitting.