Some considerations for establishing seismic design criteria for nuclear plant piping

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1997

OSTI ID:468655

Chen, W P ^[1]; Chokshi, N C ^[2]

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1. Energy Technology Engineering Center, Canoga Park, CA (United States)
2. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)

The Energy Technology Engineering Center (ETEC) is providing assistance to the U.S. NRC in developing regulatory positions on the seismic analysis of piping. As part of this effort, ETEC previously performed reviews of the ASME Code, Section III piping seismic design criteria as revised by the 1994 Addenda. These revised criteria were based on evaluations by the ASME Special Task Group on Integrated Piping Criteria (STGIPC) and the Technical Core Group (TCG) of the Advanced Reactor Corporation (ARC) of the earlier joint Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)/NRC Piping & Fitting Dynamic Reliability (PFDR) program. Previous ETEC evaluations reported at the 23rd WRSM of seismic margins associated with the revised criteria are reviewed. These evaluations had concluded, in part, that although margins for the timed PFDR tests appeared acceptable (>2), margins in detuned tests could be unacceptable (<1). This conclusion was based primarily on margin reduction factors (MRFs) developed by the ASME STGIPC and ARC/TCG from realistic analyses of PFDR test 36. This paper reports more recent results including: (1) an approach developed for establishing appropriate seismic margins based on PRA considerations, (2) independent assessments of frequency effects on margins, (3) the development of margins based on failure mode considerations, and (4) the implications of Code Section III rules for Section XI.

• Research Organization: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States). Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research; Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (United States)
• OSTI ID: 468655
• Report Number(s): NUREG/CP--0157-Vol.1; CONF-9610202--Vol.1; ON: TI96014720
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
PIPES
PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION
REGULATIONS
SAFETY ANALYSIS
SEISMIC EFFECTS