Earthquake safety program at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Within three minutes on the morning of January 24, 1980, an earthquake and three aftershocks, with Richter magnitudes of 5.8, 5.1, 4.0, and 4.2., respectively, struck the Livermore Valley. Two days later, a Richter magnitude 5.4 earthquake occurred, which had its epicenter about 4 miles northwest of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Although no one at the Lab was seriously injured, these earthquakes caused considerable damage and disruption. Masonry and concrete structures cracked and broke, trailers shifted and fell off their pedestals, office ceilings and overhead lighting fell, and bookcases overturned. We suddenly found ourselves immersed in a site-wide program of repairing earthquake-damaged facilities, and protecting our many employees and the surrounding community from future earthquakes. Over the past five years, LLNL has spent approximately $10 million on its earthquake restoration effort for repairs and upgrades. The discussion in this paper centers upon the earthquake damage that occurred, our clean-up and restoration efforts, the seismic review of LLNL facilities, our site-specific seismic design criteria, computer-floor upgrades, ceiling-system upgrades, unique building seismic upgrades, geologic and seismologic studies, and seismic instrumentation. 10 refs.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 5450803
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-93225; CONF-8510118-3; ON: DE85017400
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: DOE natural phenomena hazards mitigation conference, Las Vegas, NV, USA, 7 Oct 1985
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Impact of the January-February 1980 earthquake sequence on various structures at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Performance of HEPA filters at LLNL following the 1980 and 1989 earthquakes