The work behind the platform
OpenPRA came out of published research and keeps going that way. If a claim on this site matters, there should be something here you can cite — including the papers that say where the tooling still falls short.
Not OpenPRA output. These are the papers the definition on the front page comes from, and the specification this schema descends from.
| Year | Publication | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Kaplan, S., Garrick, B. J. On the Quantitative Definition of RiskThe set-of-triplets definition, and the s(N+1) treatment of completeness. | Risk Analysis 1(1) |
| 1997 | Kaplan, S. The Words of Risk AnalysisWhere the completeness subscript and the probability-of-frequency format are set out. | Risk Analysis 17(4) |
| 2007–2017 | Becker, G., Čepin, M., Contini, S., Ducamp, F., Epstein, S., Herrero Santos, R., Hibti, M., Kampramanis, I., Klügel, J., Meléndez Asensio, E., Perez Mulas, A., Nusbaumer, O., Quatrain, R., Rauzy, A., Rauzy, P., Reinhart, M., Sörman, J. The Open-PSA Model Exchange Format, version 2.0The format OpenPRA's schema descends from, and the source of the problem statement on the Schema page. Steven "Woody" Epstein (1948–2019) was one of the founders of the Open-PSA Initiative. | The Open-PSA Initiative |
Cite the 2023 IMECE paper for OpenPRA itself. The NEUP final report is the programme of record.
| Year | Publication | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Earthperson, A., Rasheeq, H. H., Aras, E. M., Farag, A., Shumilov, K., Wood, S. T., Boyce, J. T., Diaconeasa, M. A. An Open Source, Parallel, and Distributed Web-Based Probabilistic Risk Assessment Platform to Support Real Time Nuclear Power Plant Risk-Informed Operational DecisionsNorth Carolina State University. TODO: add the OSTI or Zenodo link. | DOE-NEUP 21-24004, final technical report |
| 2025 | Rasheeq, H. H., Earthperson, A., Aras, E. M., Diaconeasa, M. A. Design and Implementation of a Distributed Queueing System for OpenPRA | PSA 2025 |
| 2024 | Aras, E. M., Earthperson, A., Rasheeq, H. H., Salem Farag, A., Wood, S., Boyce, J., Diaconeasa, M. A. Introducing OpenPRA's Quantification Engine: Exploring Capabilities, Recognizing Limitations, and Charting the Path to Enhancement | ANS Advanced Reactor Safety |
| 2023 | Earthperson, A., Aras, E. M., Farag, A. S., Diaconeasa, M. A. Introducing OpenPRA: A Web-based Framework for Collaborative Probabilistic Risk AssessmentThe canonical citation for the platform. | ASME IMECE 2023 |
Where the claim that the engines solve the model rather than truncate it is tested, benchmarked, and where it falls short.
| Year | Publication | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Earthperson, A., Rasheeq, H. H., Aras, E. M., Shumilov, K., Boyce, J. T., Wood, S. T., Diaconeasa, M. A. Probability Estimation using Monte Carlo Simulation of Boolean Logic on Hardware-Accelerated PlatformsCanopy. | PSA 2025 |
| 2024 | Salem Farag, A., Wood, S., Earthperson, A., Aras, E. M., Boyce, J., Diaconeasa, M. A. Evaluating PRA Tools for Accurate and Efficient Quantifications: A Follow-Up Benchmarking Study Including FTREX | ANS Advanced Reactor Safety |
| 2024 | Earthperson, A., Aras, E. M., Salem Farag, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. Towards a Deep-Learning based Heuristic for Optimal Variable Ordering in Binary Decision Diagrams to Support Fault Tree Analysis | ANS Advanced Reactor Safety |
| 2024 | Aras, E. M., Wood, S., Boyce, J., Salem Farag, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. Enhancing the SAPHIRE Solve Engine: Initial Progress and EffortsWork on SAPHIRE with INL, adjacent to OpenPRA rather than part of it. | ANS Advanced Reactor Safety |
| 2024 | Wood, S., Boyce, J., Aras, E. M., Salem Farag, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. Advancing SAPHIRE: Transitioning from Legacy to State-of-Art Excellence | ANS Advanced Reactor Safety |
| 2023 | Aras, E. M., Farag, A. S., Earthperson, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. Methodology and Demonstration for Performance Analysis of a Probabilistic Risk Assessment Quantification Engine: SCRAM | PSA 2023 |
| 2023 | Aras, E. M., Farag, A. S., Earthperson, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. Method of Developing a SCRAM Parallel Engine for Efficient Quantification of Probabilistic Risk Assessment Models | PSA 2023 |
| 2023 | Farag, A. S., Aras, E. M., Earthperson, A., Wood, S. T., Boyce, J., Diaconeasa, M. A. Preliminary Benchmarking of SAPHSOLVE, XFTA, and SCRAM using Synthetically Generated Fault Trees with Common Cause Failures | PSA 2023 |
| 2022 | Farag, A., Aras, E. M., Earthperson, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. Benchmark Study of XFTA and SCRAM Fault Tree Solvers Using Synthetically Generated Fault Tree Models | ASME IMECE 2022 |
Models should leave as easily as they arrive, and a model's history should be readable. These are the papers behind pracciolini and the SAPHIRE round trip.
| Year | Publication | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Aras, E. M., Earthperson, A., Rasheeq, H. H., Wood, S. T., Boyce, J. T., Diaconeasa, M. A. Facilitating PRA Model Accessibility: Model Converter Utility from SAPHIRE to Open-PSApracciolini. | PSA 2025 |
| 2025 | Hamza, M., Liao, H., Nigh, D., Diaconeasa, M. A. Git Application for Configuration Control Programs of Advanced Nuclear Power Plants | PSA 2025 |
| 2023 | Hamza, M., Tezbasaran, A., Aras, E. M., Farag, A. S., Diaconeasa, M. A. Model Exchange Methodology Between Probabilistic Risk Assessment Tools: SAPHIRE and CAFTA Case Study | PSA 2023 |
| 2022 | Hamza, M., Tezbasaran, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. Methodology and Demonstration of Git-Based Configuration Control in Probabilistic Risk Assessment | PSAM 16 |
How the example models on this site were built, and the method behind the AI-generated ones. Read this before relying on a generated model for anything.
| Year | Publication | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Rasheeq, H. H., Aras, E. M., Earthperson, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. Automated OpenPSA Model Generation from Reliability Diagrams Using Agentic Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Case Study on MHTGRThe published method behind the generated MHTGR workbook. | PSA 2025 |
| 2025 | Aras, E. M., Earthperson, A., Rasheeq, H. H., Wood, S. T., Boyce, J. T., Diaconeasa, M. A. Synthetical Model Generator for Probabilistic Risk Assessment Tools: Enhancing Testing, Verifying and Learning | PSA 2025 |
| 2022 | Grimmeisen, P., Morozov, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. Automated Generation of Hybrid Probabilistic Risk Models From SysML v2 Models of Software-Defined Manufacturing SystemsThe basis for the MBSE model-generation claim. TODO: confirm year. | ASME IMECE |
| 2021 | Grimmeisen, P., Karimov, A., Diaconeasa, M. A., Morozov, A. Demonstration of a Limited Scope Probabilistic Risk Assessment for Autonomous Warehouse Robots With OpenPRAThe earliest published use of OpenPRA, and by an outside group — paired with the SysML v2 generation work below. | ASME IMECE 2021 |
Why a new format and a new tool were worth building, and the method work behind individual technical elements.
| Year | Publication | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Aras, E. M., Earthperson, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. A Systematic Diagnostics and Enhancement Framework for Advancing Probabilistic Risk Assessment ToolsThe peer-reviewed basis for the problems listed on the Schema page. | Nuclear Technology |
| 2025 | Farag, A. S., Alzahrani, Y. A., Chandran, P., Whitley, A. C., Diaconeasa, M. A. Risk-Informed Emergency Planning Zone for Sodium Cooled Reactors: EBR-II Case StudyContext for the EBR-II reference model. | PSA 2025 |
| 2025 | Pandit, P., Earthperson, A., Mustafa, R., Diaconeasa, M. A. Determining Risk Significant Digital I&C Failure Modes in the Probabilistic Risk Assessment of a Nuclear Power Plant | PSA 2025 |
| 2024 | Hamza, M., Joslin, N., Lawson, G., McSweeney, L., Liao, H., Vivanco, A., Diaconeasa, M. A. Identifying and quantifying a complete set of full-power initiating events during early design stages of high-temperature gas-cooled reactorsBehind the IE element. | Reliability Engineering & System Safety 242 |
| 2023 | Hamza, M., Diaconeasa, M. A. Investigating the applicability of human reliability analysis methods during early design stages of non-light-water nuclear power plantsBehind the HR element. | Progress in Nuclear Energy 161 |
| 2023 | Earthperson, A., Pandit, P., Diaconeasa, M. A. Introducing Multiple Control Paths in the Dual Error Propagation Graph for Stochastic Failure Analysis of Digital Instrumentation and Control Systems | PSA 2023 |
| 2022 | Hamza, M., Diaconeasa, M. A. A framework to implement human reliability analysis during early design stages of advanced reactors | Progress in Nuclear Energy 146 |
| 2021 | Aras, E. M., Diaconeasa, M. A. A Critical Look at the Need for Performing Multi-Hazard Probabilistic Risk Assessment for Nuclear Power Plants | Eng 2 |
| Year | Publication | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Rasheeq, H. H., Diaconeasa, M. A. OpenPRA.org: An Open-Source Platform with Schema Ontology and AI-Generated Example Models for Probabilistic Risk AssessmentPresentation with a live platform demonstration, 15 September 2026. | NRC AI Workshop, Rockville |
How to cite
Cite the 2023 IMECE paper for the platform, and the archived release DOI for the specific version you ran. If you used one of the example models, say which and state its provenance — for the generated models, the method is published and should be cited too.
Model provenance →Used in the classroom
The platform is free and needs nothing installed, which makes it usable in a course where site licences are not an option. It has been used as a live example in graduate teaching and at summer schools.
33 publications listed, excluding the two foundational papers. Proprietary vendor deliverables are not listed here.