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Quantifying the Societal Risks of Nuclear Power Plant Accidents

McGhee, Sean A
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366035332

Abstract Details

2013, Master of Science, Ohio State University, Nuclear Engineering.
The objective of this research is to assess the potential societal consequences from extensive ground contamination following the release of radiological material from a nuclear power plant accident. Using the WinMACCS code, ground concentrations of cesium are calculated for a radial grid of land around the plant, and the projected one-year groundshine doses to inhabitants in those areas are determined. For areas where doses exceed the habitability criterion established by the U.S. EPA, the land would have to be vacated for at least one year. Using data from the Census Bureau, the economic impact of this relocation is determined; this includes the total number of people relocated and the cost of doing so, lost business sales, and lost agricultural sales. Several different core inventory release fractions are considered, based on scenarios detailed in the NRC’s NUREG-1150 and State-of-the-Art Reactor Consequence Analyses studies. Ultimately, data for frequency-consequence curves are calculated for four different sites across the United States, and are combined to create an inclusive societal risk curve for nuclear power plant accidents. It is then compared with a background societal risk curve, which is constructed using data from wars, epidemics, natural disasters, and other risks to which the public is continually exposed.
Richard Denning, PhD (Advisor)
Tunc Aldemir, PhD (Committee Member)
65 p.
Nuclear Engineering
risk assessments; nuclear power plant accidents

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • McGhee, S. A. (2013). Quantifying the Societal Risks of Nuclear Power Plant Accidents [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366035332

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • McGhee, Sean. Quantifying the Societal Risks of Nuclear Power Plant Accidents. 2013. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366035332.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • McGhee, Sean. "Quantifying the Societal Risks of Nuclear Power Plant Accidents." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2013. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1366035332

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1366035332
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© 2013, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Quantifying the Societal Risks of Nuclear Power Plant Accidents by Sean A McGhee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.