Evaluation Of Seismic Hazards For Nuclear Power Plants

This Safety Guide provides guidelines and recommends procedures for the evaluation of seismic hazards for nuclear power plants. Specifically, it provides recommendations on how to determine the ground motion hazards for a plant at a particular site and the potential for surface faulting, which could affect the feasibility of construction and safe operation of a plant at that site. The Guide supersedes IAEA Safety Series No. 50-SG-S1 (Rev.l), Earthquakes and Associated Topics in Relation to Nuclear Power plant Siting that was issued in 1991.

"This Safety Guide supplements the Safety Requirements publication Safety of Fuel Cycle Facilities, and addresses all the stages in the life cycle of uranium fuel fabrication facilities (UFFFs), with emphasis being placed on design and operation. It describes the actions, conditions and procedures for meeting safety requirements and deals specifically with the handling, processing and storage of low enriched uranium that has a 235U concentration of no more than 6%, derived from natural, highly enriched or reprocessed uranium. The publication is intended to be of use to designers, operating organizations and regulators to ensure the safety of UFFFs."--Provided by publisher.

Provides the state-of-the-art practice and detailed technical elements related to ground motion evaluation by ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) and site response in the context of seismic hazard assessments as recommended in IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-9, Seismic Hazards in Site Evaluation for Nuclear Installations.

A systematic and comprehensive introduction of seismic risk analysis of critical engineering structures, focusing on nuclear power plants.

This Safety Guide supersedes the 2010 edition of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-9. It takes account of recently gained knowledge and practices developed by Member States related to seismic hazards, especially lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi accident. It also addresses concomitant events associated with earthquakes, such as tsunamis. The revision provides a clearer separation between the process for assessing the seismic hazards at a specific nuclear installation site and the process for defining the related basis for design and safety assessment of the nuclear installation. Thus, it bridges gaps and avoids undue overlap of the two processes, which correspond to and are performed at different stages of siting of the nuclear installation.

Diffuse seismicity refers to earthquakes occurring in locations where no apparent correlation can be made with any causative faults. This publication provides guidance for addressing the seismic hazard from diffuse seismicity in a manner consistent with internationally recognized practices and with reference to relevant IAEA safety standards.

Experience shows that an assessment of the seismic capacity of an existing operating facility can be required for a number of reasons, for example identification of potential seismic vulnerabilities based on operating experience events or the periodic safety review programme. This publication covers the seismic safety evaluation programmes to be performed on existing nuclear installations in order to ensure that the required fundamental safety functions are available, with particular attention to the safe shutdown of reactors. It includes lessons learned based on the IAEA Action Plan on Nuclear Safety following the Fukushima Daiichi accident, and updated methodologies for seismic safety evaluation of nuclear installations.

This Safety Guide provides recommendations on a generally accepted way to design a nuclear power plant so that an earthquake motion at the site will not jeopardize the safety of the plant. It also gives guidance on a consistent application of methods and procedures for analysis, testing and qualification of structures and equipment so that they meet the safety requirements covering the design of nuclear power plants, safety assessments for the design and the regulatory issues concerned with the licensing of plants.