IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/riskan/v39y2019i10p2197-2213.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Managing Safety‐Related Disruptions: Evidence from the U.S. Nuclear Power Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Christian C. Blanco
  • Felipe Caro
  • Charles J. Corbett

Abstract

Low‐probability, high‐impact events are difficult to manage. Firms may underinvest in risk assessments for low‐probability, high‐impact events because it is not easy to link the direct and indirect benefits of doing so. Scholarly research on the effectiveness of programs aimed at reducing such events faces the same challenge. In this article, we draw on comprehensive industry‐wide data from the U.S. nuclear power industry to explore the impact of conducting probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) on preventing safety‐related disruptions. We examine this using data from over 25,000 monthly event reports across 101 U.S. nuclear reactors from 1985 to 1998. Using Poisson fixed effects models with time trends, we find that the number of safety‐related disruptions reduced between 8% and 27% per month in periods after operators submitted their PRA in response to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Generic Letter 88‐20, which required all operators to conduct a PRA. One possible mechanism for this is that the adoption of PRA may have increased learning rates, lowering the rate of recurring events by 42%. We find that operators that completed their PRA before Generic Letter 88‐20 continued to experience safety improvements during 1990–1995. This suggests that revisiting PRA or conducting it again can be beneficial. Our results suggest that even in a highly safety‐conscious industry as nuclear utilities, a more formal approach to quantifying risk has its benefits.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian C. Blanco & Felipe Caro & Charles J. Corbett, 2019. "Managing Safety‐Related Disruptions: Evidence from the U.S. Nuclear Power Industry," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(10), pages 2197-2213, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:wly:riskan:v:39:y:2019:i:10:p:2197-2213
    DOI: 10.1111/risa.13307
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/risa.13307
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/risa.13307?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lucas W. Davis & Catherine Wolfram, 2012. "Deregulation, Consolidation, and Efficiency: Evidence from US Nuclear Power," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 194-225, October.
    2. Cooke, Roger M. & Ross, Heather L. & Stern, Adam, 2011. "Precursor Analysis for Offshore Oil and Gas Drilling: From Prescriptive to Risk-Informed Regulation," RFF Working Paper Series dp-10-61, Resources for the Future.
    3. George E. Apostolakis, 2004. "How Useful Is Quantitative Risk Assessment?," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 24(3), pages 515-520, June.
    4. Vicki M. Bier, 1999. "Challenges to the Acceptance of Probabilistic Risk Analysis," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(4), pages 703-710, August.
    5. Charles J. Corbett & María J. Montes-Sancho & David A. Kirsch, 2005. "The Financial Impact of ISO 9000 Certification in the United States: An Empirical Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(7), pages 1046-1059, July.
    6. John B. Taylor & Frank A. Wolak, 2012. "A Comparison of Government Regulation of Risk in the Financial Services and Nuclear Power Industries," Discussion Papers 11-018, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    7. M. Elisabeth Paté‐Cornell & Robert G. Bea, 1992. "Management Errors and System Reliability: A Probabilistic Approach and Application to Offshore Platforms," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, March.
    8. Adam R. Fremeth & Guy L. F. Holburn, 2012. "Information Asymmetries and Regulatory Decision Costs: An Analysis of U.S. Electric Utility Rate Changes 1980--2000," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 28(1), pages 127-162.
    9. Kevin B. Hendricks & Vinod R. Singhal, 1997. "Does Implementing an Effective TQM Program Actually Improve Operating Performance? Empirical Evidence from Firms That Have Won Quality Awards," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(9), pages 1258-1274, September.
    10. Pence, Justin & Abolhelm, Marzieh & Mohaghegh, Zahra & Reihani, Seyed & Ertem, Mehmet & Kee, Ernie, 2018. "Methodology to evaluate the monetary benefit of Probabilistic Risk Assessment by modeling the net value of Risk-Informed Applications at nuclear power plants," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 171-182.
    11. Spencer Wheatley & Benjamin Sovacool & Didier Sornette, 2017. "Of Disasters and Dragon Kings: A Statistical Analysis of Nuclear Power Incidents and Accidents," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 99-115, January.
    12. Rae, Andrew & Alexander, Rob & McDermid, John, 2014. "Fixing the cracks in the crystal ball: A maturity model for quantitative risk assessment," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 67-81.
    13. John V. Gray & Gopesh Anand & Aleda V. Roth, 2015. "The Influence of ISO 9000 Certification on Process Compliance," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 24(3), pages 369-382, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Michael Greenberg & Anthony Cox & Vicki Bier & Jim Lambert & Karen Lowrie & Warner North & Michael Siegrist & Felicia Wu, 2020. "Risk Analysis: Celebrating the Accomplishments and Embracing Ongoing Challenges," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 40(S1), pages 2113-2127, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Clougherty, Joseph A. & Grajek, Michal & Shy, Oz, 2016. "Taking ‘Some’ of the Mimicry Out of the Adoption Process: Quality-Management and Strategic Substitution," CEPR Discussion Papers 11661, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Clougherty, Joseph A. & Grajek, Michał, 2023. "Decertification in quality-management standards by incrementally and radically innovative organizations," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    3. Joseph A. Clougherty, & Michał Grajek, & Oz Shy, 2016. "Taking ‘some’ of the mimicry out of the adoption process: Quality management and strategic substitution," ESMT Research Working Papers ESMT-16-05, ESMT European School of Management and Technology.
    4. Ana Kundid Novokmet & Andrijana Rogošiæ, 2017. "Long-Term Financial Effects of Quality Management System Maturity Based on ISO 9001 Principles," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 19(S11), pages 1003-1003.
    5. David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel, 2010. "Quality Management and Job Quality: How the ISO 9001 Standard for Quality Management Systems Affects Employees and Employers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(6), pages 978-996, June.
    6. Bichescu, Bogdan & Raturi, Amitabh, 2015. "The antecedents and consequences of plant closing announcements," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 197-210.
    7. Su, Hung-Chung & Kao, Ta-Wei (Daniel) & Linderman, Kevin, 2020. "Where in the supply chain network does ISO 9001 improve firm productivity?," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 283(2), pages 530-540.
    8. Zeynep Ton, 2008. "The Effect of Labor on Profitability: The Role of Quality," Harvard Business School Working Papers 09-040, Harvard Business School, revised Jul 2009.
    9. Weiping Liu & Yanling Lian & Cuili Qian, 2022. "Buffering and bridging: How firms manage the burden of celebrity," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 483-513, June.
    10. Andy C. L. Yeung & Chris K. Y. Lo & T. C. E. Cheng, 2011. "Behind the Iron Cage: An Institutional Perspective on ISO 9000 Adoption and CEO Compensation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(6), pages 1600-1612, December.
    11. Pieter Jong & Antony Paulraj & Constantin Blome, 2014. "The Financial Impact of ISO 14001 Certification: Top-Line, Bottom-Line, or Both?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 119(1), pages 131-149, January.
    12. Tong, Xun & Lai, Kee-hung & Lo, Chris K.Y. & Cheng, T.C.E., 2022. "Supply chain security certification and operational performance: The role of upstream complexity," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    13. Ken Moon & Prashant Loyalka & Patrick Bergemann & Joshua Cohen, 2022. "The Hidden Cost of Worker Turnover: Attributing Product Reliability to the Turnover of Factory Workers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(5), pages 3755-3767, May.
    14. Bizet, Romain & Bonev, Petyo & Leveque, Francois, 2020. "The effect of local monitoring on nuclear safety and compliance: Evidence from France," Economics Working Paper Series 2014, University of St. Gallen, School of Economics and Political Science.
    15. Lo, Chris K.Y. & Yeung, Andy C.L. & Cheng, T.C.E., 2009. "ISO 9000 and supply chain efficiency: Empirical evidence on inventory and account receivable days," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 367-374, April.
    16. Charles J. Corbett & Robert D. Klassen, 2006. "Extending the Horizons: Environmental Excellence as Key to Improving Operations," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 8(1), pages 5-22, March.
    17. Anandasivam Gopal & Guodong (Gordon) Gao, 2009. "Certification in the Indian Offshore IT Services Industry," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 11(3), pages 471-492, December.
    18. Hill, Craig A. & Zhang, G. Peter & Miller, Keith E., 2018. "Collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment & firm performance: An empirical evaluation," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 12-23.
    19. Bizet, Romain & Bonev, Petyo & Lévêque, François, 2022. "The effect of local monitoring on nuclear safety and compliance: Evidence from France," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 113(C).
    20. Hoang, Phi & McGuire, William & Prakash, Aseem, 2016. "Is there Life after Death?: The Enduring Effects of the 33/50 Program on Emission Reductions," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235556, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:riskan:v:39:y:2019:i:10:p:2197-2213. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1539-6924 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.