Volcanic and Tectonic Hazard Assessment for Nuclear Facilities

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Many of the scientists and engineers currently involved in natural hazards assessment for nuclear facilities are specialists in one type of hazard, such as seismic or volcanic hazards. In addition to thorough coverage of these two specialties, Volcanic and Tectonic Hazard Assessment for Nuclear Facilities (the book) brings together other hazard issues related to tectonic and volcanic processes (subsidence, uplift, and tsunamis) and to processes not directly related to tectonism or volcanism (glacial isostatic adjustments, erosion, sea-level change, and storm surge). One of the values of the book is the comprehensive look at these diverse issues and the efforts that have been made to quantify and model them. The introductory chapters provide context for those that follow and present reviews of tectonic and volcanic processes. Other chapters deal with seismic and volcanic hazard assessment methodology, development of regulatory guidance, special issues at coastal sites (tsunami, storm surge, sea-level changes), site selection for both reactors and geologic repositories in Japan, design of a deep repository in Scandinavia, vertical tectonics and associated erosion and burial, glacial isostatic adjustments, volcanic hazards, and consequences (risk) for the proposed U.S. Yucca Mountain repository, volcanic hazards for a nuclear reactor in the Philippines, and volcanic hazards in the eastern Snake River Plain of Idaho. One of the main themes of the book is the description of spatial density and demonstration of its use, as an alternative to zonation models, for both seismic and volcanic hazards assessment. Case histories for the use of spatial density are presented for volcanic hazards for Yucca Mountain, Japan, and the eastern Snake River Plain of Idaho and for seismic hazards in England. The flexibility of the method to evaluate multiple models (i.e., different event definitions, different kernel functions, different kernel bandwidths, and different conceptual models arising from …