Development of the site-specific uniform hazard spectra for Korean nuclear power plant sites

Abstract

A seismic risk analysis has been performed to evaluate the seismic safety of a nuclear power plant for strong earthquakes beyond a design earthquake level. A site-specific median spectrum has generally been used for a seismic fragility analysis of structures and equipment in Korean nuclear power plants as a part of a probabilistic seismic risk assessment. The site-specific response spectrum, however, does not represent the same probability of an exceedance over entire frequency range of interest. The site-specific uniform hazard spectrum (UHS) is more appropriate for use in a seismic probabilistic risk assessment (SPRA) than the site-specific spectrum, since there are only a few strong motion data and seismological information for the nuclear plant sites in Korea. In this study, the uniform hazard spectra were developed using the available seismic hazard data for four Korean NPP sites.