Response of a base-isolated large liquid metal reactor plant to seismic loads

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

OSTI ID:5529947

Chang, Y W; Gvildys, J

In recent years, base isolation has been applied to various civil structures such as bridges and buildings for the purpose of reducing its acceleration to below the level of ground accelerations during seismic events. The basic principal of base isolation is to introduce a soft layer of material between structure foundation to allow a degree of flexibility in horizontal motions which could reduce the seismic accelerations during earthquakes. If base isolation is properly designed, it shifts the fundamental frequency of the structure away from the damaging frequency range of earthquakes. Thus, the seismic loads transmitted to the structure can be greatly reduced. This is particularly important in Liquid Metal Reactor (LMR) plants, because the components of primary system such as reactor vessel and piping loops are designed to be thin-walled structures and have little inherent seismic resistance. Thus, the use of base isolation offers a viable and effective approach that permits the reactor structures to better withstand the seismic loading. This paper deals with the seismic response of a base isolated large-scale LMR plant. The analysis model was based on a preliminary nuclear island layout developed by EPRI during the concept development phase of the large-scale prototype breeder (LSPB) project. The nuclear island has a dimension of 184'-0'' {times} 210'-6''; the reactor vessel has an ID of 62 ft and an overall length of 70 ft. Two soil conditions have been considered in the analysis. One is a hard-soil site having a shear wave velocity of 6000 ft/s, and the other is a soft-soil site having a shear wave velocity of 2000 ft/s. For comparison purposes, the responses of a conventional plant (unisolated) was also analyzed. 3 figs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/NE
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5529947
• Report Number(s): CONF-890855-56; ON: DE89017696
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
210500 -- Power Reactors
Breeding
22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220900* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Reactor Safety
BREEDER REACTORS
CONTAINERS
ENGINEERING
EPITHERMAL REACTORS
FAST REACTORS
FBR TYPE REACTORS
FLEXIBILITY
FREQUENCY ANALYSIS
LIQUID METAL COOLED REACTORS
LMFBR TYPE REACTORS
MECHANICAL PROPERTIES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR PROTECTION SYSTEMS
REACTOR SAFETY
REACTOR VESSELS
REACTORS
SAFETY
SAFETY ENGINEERING
SEISMIC EFFECTS
SITE PREPARATION
TENSILE PROPERTIES