Approaches to Accident Analysis in Recent U.S. Department of Energy Environmental Impact Statements

A review of accident analyses in recent U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) was conducted to evaluate the consistency among approaches and to compare these approaches with existing DOE guidance. The review considered several components of an accident analysis: the overall scope, which in turn should reflect the scope of the EIS; the spectrum of accidents considered; the methods and assumptions used to determine frequencies or frequency ranges for the accident sequences; and the assumptions and technical bases for developing radiological and chemical atmospheric source terms and for calculating the consequences of airborne releases. The review also considered the range of results generated with respect to impacts on various worker and general populations. In this paper, the findings of these reviews are presented and methods recommended for improving consistency among EISs and bringing them more into line with existing DOE guidance.