George E. Apostolakis
Korea Electric Power Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Professor of Engineering Systems
Email: apostola@mit.edu
Phone: 617-252-1570
Fax: 617-258-8863
MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering
77 Massachusetts Avenue, 24-221
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
Education
Diploma, Electrical Engineering, National Technical University,
Athens, Greece, 1969
M.S., Engineering Science, California Institute of Technology,
1970
Ph.D., Engineering Science and Applied Mathematics,
California Institute of Technology, 1973
Research Interests
Methods for probabilistic risk assessment of complex technological
systems; risk management involving several stakeholder groups;
decision analysis, human reliability models; organizational
factors and safety culture; software dependability; risk-informed,
performance-based regulation; risk assessment and management
of terrorist threats.
Teaching Interests
Probability and its Applications to Risk Assessment and Reliability;
Risk-Benefit Analysis; Nuclear Reactor Safety.
Other Professional Activities
- Editor-in-Chief, Reliability Engineering and System
Safety , An International Journal, Elsevier Science
Publishers, England
- Founder and Secretary, International
Association for Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management
- Member, Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards (Chairman,
2001-2002), U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
- Member, International Nuclear Technology Commission of the
Federal States of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, and Hesse,Germany
- Member of the Editorial Boards of the journals Process
Safety and Environmental Protection, Transactions of
The Institution of Chemical Engineers, Part B (1991-Present);
and Risk Analysis, An International Journal (1997-Present).
- Director, Risk-Informed Operational Decision Management,
A Short Course for Utility Managers Sponsored by MIT and INPO,
1997-Present.
- Lecturer and member of the organizing committee, NASA Probabilistic
Risk Assessment (PRA) Workshop for Managers and Practitioners,
2001.
- Technical Program Chairman, International Topical Meeting
on Probabilistic Safety Assessment, Detroit, Michigan, October
6-10, 2002, American Nuclear Society.
- Chairman, NASA Peer Review Panel for the International Space
Station Probabilistic Risk Assessment, 2002.
Honors and Awards
- Mark Mills Award, American Nuclear Society, 1974.
- Outstanding Service Award, Society for Risk Analysis, 1991.
- Fellow, American Nuclear Society, 1992.
- Fellow, Society for Risk Analysis, 1992.
- Tommy Thompson Award, Nuclear Installations Safety Division,
American Nuclear Society, 1999.
- The Ruth and Joel Spira Award for Distinguished Teaching, MIT School of Engineering, 2005.
- Arthur Holly Compton Award in Education, American Nuclear Society, ("for developing innovative ways to educate students and professional engineers in the art and science of probabilistic risk assessment"), 2005.
- Member, National Academy of Engineering, for “Innovations in the theory and practice of probabilistic risk assessment and risk management” (elected in 2007).
Selected Recent Publications
- Garrett, C., and Apostolakis, G., "Context in the Risk Assessment
of Digital Systems," Risk Analysis, 19:23-32,
1999.
- Accorsi, R., Apostolakis, G., and Zio, E., "Prioritizing
Stakeholder Concerns in Environmental Risk Management," Journal
of Risk Research, 2:11-29, 1999.
- Apostolakis, G.E., "Organizational Factors and Nuclear Power
Plant Safety," in: J. Misumi, B. Wilpert, and R. Miller, Editors, Nuclear Safety: A Human Factors Perspective,
Taylor & Francis, Philadelphia, PA, 1999.
- Apostolakis, G., "The Distinction between Aleatory and Epistemic
Uncertainties is Important: An Example from the Inclusion
of Aging Effects into Probabilstic Safety Assessment," Proceedings
of PSA'99, Washington, DC, August 22-25, 1999, American
Nuclear Society.
- Sorensen, J.N., Apostolakis, G. E., Kress, T.S., and Powers,
D.A., "On the Role of Defense in Depth in Risk-Informed
Regulation," Proceedings of PSA 99, International
Topical Meeting on Probabilistic Safety Assessment, pp.
408-413, Washington, DC, August 22 - 26, 1999, American Nuclear
Society, La Grange Park, Illinois.
- Bonano, E.J., Apostolakis, G. E., Salter, P.F., Ghassemi,
A., and Jennings, S., "Application of Risk Assessment and
Decision Analysis to the Evaluation, Ranking, and Selection
of Environmental Remediation Alternatives," Journal
of Hazardous Materials, 71:35-57, 2000
- Sorensen, J.N., Apostolakis, G.E., and Powers, D.A., "On
the Role of Safety Culture in Risk-Informed Regulation," in: S. Kondo and K. Furuta, Editors, Proceedings of PSAM
5, Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management, Osaka,
Japan, November 27 December 1, 2000, pp. 2205-2210,
Universal Academy Press, Inc., Tokyo.
- Borgonovo, E., and Apostolakis, G.E., "A New Importance Measure
for Risk-Informed Decision Making," Reliability Engineering
and System Safety, 72:193-212, 2001.
- Marcinkowski, K., Apostolakis, G., and Weil, R., "A Computer-Aided
Technique for Identifying Latent Conditions (CATILaC)," Cognition,
Technology & Work, 3:111-126, 2001.
- Weil, R., and Apostolakis, G.E., "A Methodology for the Prioritization
of Operating Experience in Nuclear Power Plants," Reliability
Engineering and System Safety, 74:23-42, 2001.
- G. Apostolakis et al, "Incorporating Aging Effects into
Probabilistic Risk Assessment A Feasibility Study Utilizing
Reliability Physics Models," Report NUREG/CR-5632,
US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC, August 2001.
- Weil, R., and Apostolakis, G., "Identification of Important
Organizational Factors Using Operating Experience," in:
B. Wilpert and N. Itoigawa, Editors, Safety Culture in Nuclear
Power Operations, Taylor & Francis, Inc., NY., 2001.
- Garrett, C.J., and Apostolakis, G.E., "Automated Hazard
Analysis of Digital Control Systems," Reliability Engineering
and System Safety, 77:1-17, 2002.
- Houtermans, M., Apostolakis, G., Brombacher, A., and Karydas,
D., "The Dynamic Flowgraph Methodology as a Safety Analysis
Tool," Safety Science, 40:813-833, 2002.
- Borgonovo, E., Apostolakis, G.E., Tarantola, S., and Saltelli,
A., "Comparison of Global Sensitivity Analysis Techniques
and Importance Measures in PSA," Reliability Engineering
and System Safety, 79:175-185, 2003.
- Apostolakis, G.E., and Barach, P., "Reporting and Preventing Medical Mishaps:
Safety Lessons Learned from Nuclear Power," The Patient Safety Handbook, pp.
205-224, Editors: B.J. Youngberg and M.J. Hatlie, Jones and Bartlett
Publishers, Sudbury, Massachusetts, 2004.
- Apostolakis, G.E., Koser, J.P., and Sato, G., "Decision Analysis and its
Application to the Frequency of Containment Integrated Leakage Tests," Nuclear
Technology, 146:181-198, 2004.
- Pagani, L., Smith, C., and Apostolakis, G., "Making Decisions for Incident
Management in Nuclear Power Plants Using Probabilistic Safety Assessment," Risk, Decision and Policy, 9:271-295, 2004.
- Pagani, L.P., Apostolakis, G.E., and Hejzlar, P., "The Impact of Uncertainties
on the Performance of Passive Systems," Nuclear Technology, 149:129-140, 2005.
- Apostolakis, G.E., and Lemon, D.M., "A Screening Methodology for the
Identification and Ranking of Infrastructure Vulnerabilities due to Terrorism,"
Risk Analysis, 25:361-376, 2005.
- Delaney, M.J., Apostolakis, G.E., and Driscoll, M.J., "Risk-Informed Design
Guidance for Future Reactor Systems," Nuclear Engineering and Design, 235:1537-1556, 2005.
- Ghosh, S.T., and Apostolakis, G.E., "Organizational Contributions to Nuclear Power Plant Safety,"Nuclear Engineering and Technology, 37:207-220, 2005.
- Pagani, L.P., and Apostolakis, G.E., "A Methodology for Developing a Probability Distribution for the Failure Enthalpy of High-Burnup Fuels via Simulation," Nuclear Technology, 153:9-17, 2006.
- Ghosh, S.T., and Apostolakis, G.E., "Extracting Risk Insights from Performance Assessments for HLW Repositories," Nuclear Technology, 153:70-88, 2006.
- Reinert, J.M., and Apostolakis, G.E., "Including Model Uncertainty in Risk-Informed Decision Making," Annals of Nuclear Energy, 33:354-369, 2006.
- Michaud, D., and Apostolakis, G.E., "A Methodology for Ranking the Elements of Water-Supply Networks,"Journal of Infrastructure Systems, 12:230-242, 2006.
- Stamatelatos, M., Dezfuli, H., and Apostolakis, G., "A Proposed Risk-Informed Decision-Making Framework for NASA," presented at the 8th International Conference on Probabilistic Safety Assessment and Management (PSAM 8), New Orleans, Louisiana, 15-18 May 2006.
- Patterson, S.A., and Apostolakis, G.E., “Identification of Critical Locations across Multiple Infrastructures for Terrorist Actions,” Reliability Engineering and System Safety, 92:1183-1203, 2007.