Seismic hazard evaluation for the high-flux isotope reactor (HFIR) Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Technical Report · Sun Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1991

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5105097· OSTI ID:5105097

McGuire, R K; Toro, G R ^[1]

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1. Risk Engineering, Inc., Golden, CO (United States)

This study investigates the probabilistic hazard of earthquake-induced ground shaking at the HFIR facility, Oak Ridge, Tennessee. These results will be used to calculate plant response and potential effects in a Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA). For this purpose, several guidelines apply to this work. First, both the frequency of exceedance and the uncertainty in frequency of exceedance of various ground motion levels must be represented. These are required by the PRA so that the frequency and uncertainty of various possible plant states can be expressed. Second, there is a deliberate attempt to provide an unbiased distribution of frequencies of exceedance, i.e. to present results that are neither conservative nor unconservative. This is consistent with the goals of a PRA, to provide unbiased estimates of plant effects from which appropriate decisions (for instance about evaluating existing levels of seismic design) can be reached. Recent intensive studies of seismic hazard in the central and eastern United States (CEUS) have been completed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI). These studies represent major efforts to characterize the seismic hazard for nuclear power plants in the CEUS, and use the most recent, up-to-date understandings of seismicity and ground motion relations for the region. With these studies as a resource, the current effort relies exclusively on the seismicity and ground motion assumptions therein to formulate seismic hazard curves for the HFIR facility. The interpretation of these studies to derive seismic hazard curves in a format suitable for input to a PRA is described in this report. 29 refs., 40 figs., 22 tabs.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Pickard, Lowe and Garrick, Inc., Newport Beach, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 5105097
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-11914; ON: DE92002392
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
58 GEOSCIENCES
HFIR REACTOR
RISK ASSESSMENT
ATTENUATION
EARTHQUAKES
FREQUENCY ANALYSIS
GROUND MOTION
PROBABILISTIC ESTIMATION
PROGRESS REPORT
REACTOR SAFETY
SEISMIC EFFECTS
SEISMICITY
DOCUMENT TYPES
ENRICHED URANIUM REACTORS
IRRADIATION REACTORS
ISOTOPE PRODUCTION REACTORS
MOTION
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
RESEARCH REACTORS
SAFETY
SEISMIC EVENTS
TANK TYPE REACTORS
TEST REACTORS
THERMAL REACTORS
WATER COOLED REACTORS
WATER MODERATED REACTORS
220900* - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Reactor Safety
220600 - Nuclear Reactor Technology- Research
Test & Experimental Reactors
580000 - Geosciences