Imperfect science: Uncertainty, diversity, and experts

Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union
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Abstract

Seismic safety issues related to nuclear reactors in the eastern United States pose special challenges to the Earth and engineering sciences, given the severe consequences that can attend even very infrequent earthquakes. To deal with low-probability, potentially damaging ground motions, two major probabilistic seismic hazard analyses were conducted in the 1980s for nuclear reactors in the eastern United States, that part of the country east of the Rocky Mountains. The first study was performed by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) [Bernreuter et al., 1989] and was supported by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC). The second was commissioned by the Seismicity Owners Group of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), [1989]. These studies generally agreed in terms of median hazard estimates, but mean hazard estimates at individual sites varied considerably, in several cases by 2 orders of magnitude or more.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Imperfect science: Uncertainty, diversity, and experts
Series title Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union
DOI 10.1029/97EO00236
Volume 78
Issue 35
Year Published 1997
Language English
Publisher American Geophysical Union
Description 8 p.
First page 369
Last page 377
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