skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Structural and piping issues in the design certification of advanced reactors

Conference ·
OSTI ID:248192
; ;  [1]
  1. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the design certification of structures and piping for evolutionary and passive advanced light water reactors. Advanced reactor designs are based on a set of assumed site-related parameters that are selected to envelop a majority of potential nuclear power plant sites. Multiple time histories are used as the seismic design basis in order to cover the majority of potential sites in the US. Additionally, design are established to ensure that surface motions at a particular site will not exceed the enveloped standard design surface motions. State-of-the-art soil-structure interaction (SSI) analyses have been performed for the advanced reactors, which include structure-to-structure interaction for all seismic Category 1 structures. Advanced technology has been utilized to exclude the dynamic effects of pipe rupture from structural design by demonstrating that the probability of pipe rupture is extremely low. For piping design, the advanced reactor vendors have developed design acceptance criteria (DAC) which provides the piping design analysis methods, design procedures, and acceptance criteria. In SECY-93-087 the NRC staff recommended that the Commission approve the approach to eliminate the OBE from the design of structures and piping in advanced reactors and provided guidance which identifies the necessary changes to existing seismic design criteria. The supplemental criteria address fatigue, seismic anchor motion, and piping stress limits when the OBE is eliminated.

OSTI ID:
248192
Report Number(s):
CONF-960306-; ISBN 0-7918-1226-X; TRN: 96:014876
Resource Relation:
Conference: ICONE 4: ASME/JSME international conference on nuclear engineering, New Orleans, LA (United States), 10-13 Mar 1996; Other Information: PBD: 1996; Related Information: Is Part Of ICONE-4: Proceedings. Volume 2: Advanced reactors; Rao, A.S. [ed.] [General Electric Nuclear Engineering, San Jose, CA (United States)]; Duffey, R.B. [ed.] [Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)]; Elias, D. [ed.] [Commonwealth Edison, Downers Grove, IL (United States)]; PB: 637 p.
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English