Seismic design of nuclear power plants—where are we now?

Abstract

The lack of any significant activity in the design and construction of new nuclear power plants over the last 10 years has resulted in a corresponding lull in the basic academic research carried out in this field. Whilst some work is still going on related to the evaluation of existing plants or to litigation over some of them (including some that never became operational) most of it is of a very applied nature and little basic research is being conducted at present. However, research on earthquake engineering in general, as applied to buildings, bridges, lifelines, dams and other constructed facilities has continued. This paper attempts to look at some of the areas where there were major uncertainties in the seismic design of nuclear power plants (selection of the design earthquake and its characteristics, evaluation of soil effects and soil structure interactions, dynamic analysis and design of the structures), the progress that has been made in these areas, and the remaining issues in need of further research.