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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Seismic margin assessment of evolutionary light water reactors

Conference ·
OSTI ID:404340
;  [1]
  1. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation

The objectives of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) staff`s review of the evolutionary light water reactors (ELWR) probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) are drawn from 10 CFR Part 52, the Commission`s Severe Reactor Accident Policy Statement regarding future designs and existing plants, the Commission`s Safety Goal Policy Statement, The Commission approved positions concerning the analyses of external and events contained in SECY-93-087, and NRC interest in the use of PRA to help improve future reactor designs. In general, these objectives have been achieved by the ELWR PRAs and the NRC staff`s review. The staff`s applicable regulation for the analysis of external events for the ELWR PRAs is as follows. The probabilistic risk assessment required by 10 CFR 52.47(a)(1)(v) must include an assessment of internal and external events. For external events, simplified probabilistic methods and margins methods may be used to assess the capacity of the standard design to withstand the effects of events such as fires and earthquakes. Traditional probabilistic techniques should be used to evaluate internal floods. For earthquakes, a seismic margin analysis must consider the effects of earthquakes with accelerations approximately one and two-thirds the acceleration of the safe-shutdown earthquake (SSE).

OSTI ID:
404340
Report Number(s):
CONF-960706--; ISBN 0-7918-1787-3
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English