The ETH Zurich curated nuclear events database: Layout, event classification, and analysis of contributing factors

Precursors and startling lessons: Statistical analysis of 1250 events with safety significance from the civil nuclear sector

“…With more than 1250 insightful events from commercial nuclear power plants, the ETHZ curated nuclear events database is the largest open-access database in the world. In addition to the constructive discussions offered in [26], the present paper has presented important analyses and industry insights with the goal of raising awareness to several key aspects threatening the safety and reliability of nuclear power plants.…”

“…Understanding human related failures is difficult due to its complex nature, and it is the basis of human reliability analysis. In this paper and in [26], the contributions of human related failures were discussed, showing that they very often have a significant, and sometimes a dominating, share of the contributing factors, especially failures related to T&M activities. This section presents some completely unusual examples of maintenance errors, where the team could not foresee the consequences of their actions, or the lack of focus or information have led to bizarre occurrences.…”

“…The events in the database have been systematically analyzed by multiple nuclear-safety experts, providing a curated intermediate-level description, and coherent breakdown of features such as origin of the event, causes and contributors, type of failure, operating mode, failure sequence, significance, and many others. A detailed explanation of the database features, classification criteria, and definitions, can be found in the companion paper [26]. The database along with its custom-made graphical user-interface, provide an open access, user-friendly, and information-rich asset for the scientific community, industrial analysts, as well as the public.…”

Resilient design in nuclear energy: Critical lessons from a cross-disciplinary analysis of the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear accident

“…2 As a result, the nuclear power industry has one of the lowest accident rates among energy industries. 3 However, accidents could happen, 4 , 5 , 6 In fact, several high-profile nuclear accidents have led to significant impacts on the people and the environment. Currently, safety concerns still hinder the license renewal of existing nuclear power plants (NPPs) and the siting of new plants, even while there is renewed interest in nuclear power as a low-emission source.…”