Nuclear Power Reactor Safety Improvements: Mitigation Versus Emergency Preparedness

This paper presents a national perspective of the values and impacts of filtered vented containments and instrumentation and monitoring of Event V scenarios as a means to mitigate severe reactor accident releases of radioactivity for operating reactors. The costs are comparable to emergency preparedness measures such as stockpiling potassium iodide for the population and have additional protection benefits of reducing substantially non-inhalation pathway contributions to offsite health effects, as well as, protecting land from contamination.