Seismic re-evaluation of nuclear facilities worldwide: overview and status

Abstract

Existing nuclear facilities throughout the world are being subjected to severe scrutiny of their safety in the event of an earthquake. In the United States, there have been several licensing and safety review issues for which industry and regulatory agencies have cooperated to develop rational and economically feasible criteria for resolving the issues. Currently, all operating nuclear power plants in the United States are conducting an Individual Plant Examination of External Events, including earthquakes beyond the design basis. About two-thirds of the operating plants are conducting parallel programs for verifying the seismic adequacy of equipment for the design basis earthquake. The U.S. Department of Energy is also beginning to perform detailed evaluations of their facilities, many of which had little or no seismic design. Western European countries also have been re-evaluating their older nuclear power plants for seismic events often adapting the criteria developed in the United States. With the change in the political systems in Eastern Europe, there is a strong emphasis from their Western European neighbors to evaluate and upgrade the safety of their operating nuclear power plants. Finally, nuclear facilities in Asia are also being evaluated for seismic vulnerabilities. This paper focuses on the methodologies that have been developed for re-evaluation of existing nuclear power plants and presents examples of the application of these methodologies to nuclear facilities worldwide.