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04 · Nuclear Energy Risks · Publications

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles, conference papers, theses and press coverage from the nuclear-energy research programme of the ETH Zurich Chair of Entrepreneurial Risks. For physicist Didier Sornette, nuclear energy belongs in the Swiss electricity mix, along with hydropower and solar.

Nuclear Events Database

Layout, classification and statistical analysis of the ETHZ Curated Nuclear Events Database.


  • Ali Ayoub, Andrej Stankovski, Wolfgang Kröger and Didier Sornette

    The ETH Zurich Curated Nuclear Events Database: Layout, Event Classification, and Analysis of Contributing Factors

    Reliability Engineering and System Safety 213, 107781 (2021)

  • Ali Ayoub, Andrej Stankovski, Wolfgang Kröger and Didier Sornette

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

    Reliability Engineering and System Safety 214, 107820 (2021)

  • Ali Ayoub, Spencer Wheatley, Wolfgang Kröger and Didier Sornette

    ETHZ Curated Nuclear Events Database

    Online database (formerly er-nucleardb.ethz.ch), now hosted by Albatrisk (2019)

  • Ali Ayoub, Andrej Stankovski, Wolfgang Kröger and Didier Sornette

    Status of the ETHZ Curated Nuclear Events Database

    ESREL2020-PSAM15 (2020)

  • Andrej Stankovski

    Enhancement of the ETHZ Nuclear Events Database and Preliminary Trend Analysis

    Master thesis, ETH Zurich (2020)

  • Spencer Wheatley, Wolfgang Kröger, Lan Chen and Didier Sornette

    Open comprehensive nuclear event database

    Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management PSAM 14, Los Angeles, CA (2018)

PhD thesis


  • Ali Ayoub

    For a safer nuclear outlook: learning from experience within an adaptive and generic probabilistic safety assessment framework

    PhD thesis, ETH Zurich (2021)

Generic PSA models development


  • Ali Ayoub, Wolfgang Kröger and Didier Sornette

    Generic Probabilistic Safety Assessment Models for International Precursor Analysis Applications

    International Youth Nuclear Congress (IYNC2020), Sydney, Australia (2020)

  • Ali Ayoub, Wolfgang Kröger, Olivier Nusbaumer and Didier Sornette

    Simplified/Harmonized PSA: A Generic Modeling Framework

    ANS PSA 2019 International Topical Meeting on Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Analysis, Charleston, SC, USA (2019)

  • Xi Chen

    Generic Level 2 Probabilistic Safety Analysis on Pressurized Water Reactors

    Master thesis, ETH Zurich (2019)

Precursor analysis


  • Spencer Wheatley, Wolfgang Kröger, Olivier Nusbaumer and Didier Sornette

    Analysis of precursor accidents in nuclear power

    Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management PSAM 14, Los Angeles, CA (2018)

Diverse nuclear topics


  • Didier Sornette and Euan Mearns

    The Swiss federal government’s energy strategy is wishful thinking, says ETH researcher

    Neue Zürcher Zeitung (NZZ), 19 July 2022 — on a working paper criticising the optimism of the transition to a solar-dominated energy system (2022)

  • Wolfgang Kröger, Didier Sornette and Ali Ayoub

    Towards Safer and more Sustainable Ways for Exploiting Nuclear Power

    World Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology 10, 91–115 (2020)

  • Spencer Wheatley, Benjamin Sovacool and Didier Sornette

    Of Disasters and Dragon Kings: A Statistical Analysis of Nuclear Power Incidents & Accidents

    Risk Analysis 37 (1), 99–115 (2017)

  • Spencer Wheatley and Didier Sornette

    Une perspective indépendante sur les coûts d’une société avec ou sans nucléaire

    Le Temps, 14 November 2016 (2016)

  • Tom Whipple

    Nuclear watchdogs downplaying the risks

    The Times, 19 September 2016 — with the press release “Risk of Another Chernobyl or Fukushima Type Accident Plausible, Experts say”, University of Sussex and ETH Zurich (2016)

  • Spencer Wheatley, Benjamin K. Sovacool and Didier Sornette

    Reassessing the Safety of Nuclear Power

    Energy Research & Social Science 15, 96–100 (2016)

  • Spencer Wheatley, Benjamin Sovacool and Didier Sornette

    Statistically assessing of the risks of commercial nuclear energy

    SGR Newsletter 44, 10–11 (Scientists for Global Responsibility) (2016)

  • Didier Sornette

    A civil super-Apollo project in nuclear R&D for a safer and prosperous world

    Energy Research & Social Science 8, 60–65 (2015)

  • Wolfgang Kröger and Didier Sornette

    Reflections on Limitations of Current PSA Methodology

    ANS PSA 2013 International Topical Meeting on Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Analysis, Columbia, South Carolina, USA (invited article) (2013)

  • Didier Sornette, Thomas Maillart and Wolfgang Kröger

    Exploring the limits of safety analysis in complex technological systems

    International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 6, 59–66 (2013)

Work with the data behind these papers

The curated events database used in these studies is available on request.