  For a particle traversing a bent crystal in the regime of volume reflection
we evaluate the probability of interaction with atomic nuclei. Regardless of
the continuous potential shape, this probability is found to differ from the
corresponding value in an amorphous target by an amount proportional to the
crystal bending radius, and the particle deflection angle. Based on this
result, we evaluate the rate of inelastic nuclear interactions, and the final
beam angular dispersion due to multiple Coulomb scattering. The theoretical
predictions are compared with the experiments. The impact of multiple Coulomb
scattering on the mean volume reflection angle is also discussed.
