The Safety of Nuclear Power

This report gives an account of the history of nuclear power plant safety, covering the important elements from safety in the earliest days to lessons learned from accidents and current reactor safety principles. The report concentrates on light and heavy water moderated reactors, by far the most prevalent types. It concludes that for these types of reactors, levels of safety are in reasonable agreement with the present INSAG quantitative targets for probabilities of core melt and radioactive releases. The report is directed at an educated general public.