ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the utilization of risk importances in decision support systems utilizing microcomputers and minicomputers. It provides an overview of the specific ways in which risk importance information can be utilized to build decision support systems on micro/minicomputers. The chapter also provides only the tip of the iceberg of the ways probabilistic risk analysis (PRA) can be utilized in decision support systems and, with further extensions, in expert systems. Risk importances are importances derived from the logic structures of the PRA. The logic structures which can be specifically examined for their importance information are: the event tree and system models themselves; the critical failure combinations, or minimal cut sets, of the PRA; the failure combinations which are not critical but will cause significant risk increases; and the success paths, or minimal path sets, of the PRA.
