Assessment of Energy Accident Risks

Dear Colleagues,

The field of risk assessment and management is a rather young scientific discipline, and several of its fundamental ideas, principles and concepts go back to the 1970s and 1980s. The need for systematic and consistent risk assessment of energy technologies has been recognized in the same period. Accidents in the energy sector are not limited to power plants, but can occur at any stage in an energy chain. Therefore, a holistic perspective is necessary, including exploration and extraction, processing, transports and storage, power and heat generation, disposal and waste storage. Currently, traditional models for risk assessment are complemented by sophisticated statistical methods and approaches, including addressing explicitly spatial and temporal aspects. Furthermore, consideration of extreme events has received increased attention, partially due to a number of actual occurrences with significant impacts on the energy sector and beyond. Finally, risk assessment of energy accidents is more and more considered within the broader context of sustainability, resilience, energy security and critical infrastructure protection.

This Special Issue aims to provide an overview of the current state-of-the-art in accident risk assessment of current energy systems as well as concepts and approaches to handle emerging and novel risks of future systems. We welcome both theoretical/methodological and applied submissions, coming from different disciplines, including engineering, natural sciences, economy, social and political sciences. Contributions can address specific activities or infrastructures within a single energy chain or comparatively evaluate a portfolio of energy technologies, use empirical data-driven methods, system modeling, scenario analysis or other prospective/foresight approaches. Ultimately, the Special Issue will contribute to a better understanding of existing basic scientific challenges and applied research issues, both of which form the foundation for the next generation risk assessment of energy accidents, and to support the transition towards a future, low-carbon energy system.

Dr. Peter Burgherr
Dr. Stefan Hirschberg
Dr. Matteo Spada
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.