INFLUENCE OF UNCERTAINTY OF ROCK PROPERTIES ON SEISMIC RESPONSES OF REACTOR BUILDINGS

The influence of the dispersion and uncertainty of the dynamic shear wave velocity and Poisson＇s ratio of soil in a hard rock site was investigated on the seismic response of reactor building structure. The analysis is performed by considering the soil-structure interaction effects and based on the model of the reactor building in a typical pressurized water reactor nuclear power plant （NPP）. The numerical results show that for the typical floor selected, while the relative increment ratio of the dynamic shear wave velocity varies from -30% to 30% compared to the basis of 1 930 m/s, the relative variation of the horizontal response spectra peak value lies in the scope of ±10% for the internal structure, and the relative variation of the frequency corresponding to the spectra peak is 0.0% in most cases. The relative variation of the vertical response spectra peak value lies in the scope of - 10% to 22%, and the relative variation of the frequency corresponding to the Spectra peak lies in the scope of - 22% to 4%. The analysis indicates that the dynamic shear wave velocity and the Poisson＇s ratio of the rock would affect the seismic response of structure and the soil-structure interaction effects should be considered in seismic analysis and design of NPP even for a hard rock site.

Seismic Isolation of Reactor Assembly for a Fixed Base Accelerator Driven System Reactor Building

In the SILER （Seismic-Initiated events risk mitigation in LEad-cooled Reactors） Project, it is interesting to apply seismic isolation technology for the reactor assembly of the fixed base reactor building for ADS （Acceleration Driven System） heavy liquid reactor MYRRHA （Multipurpose Hybrid Research Reactor for High-Tech Application） which contains the most critical safety related components, such as reactor vessel, safe shutdown and control rod mechanisms, primary heat exchangers, primary pumps, spoliation target assembly and fuel assemblies, etc. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the possibility of an application of a partial seismic isolation to the safety critical components only, here, the reactor assembly. This paper presents the preliminary analysis results of the isolated reactor assembly and compares these with those of seismic isolated ADS reactor building. The analysis results show the reduction of the seismic acceleration response but the increase of the relative displacement for the reactor assembly. Some safety issues, especially, coolant＇s incapable covering the reactor core make difficult to apply for the partial seismic isolation of the ADS reactor assembly due to large relative displacement occurring the partial isolation system. Further study on the partial seismic isolation application of the critical safety components are also discussed.

Comparison of Risk Assessment for a Nuclear Power Plant Construction Project Based on Analytic Hierarchy Process and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process

Recently, plant construction throughout the world, including nuclear power plant construction, has grown significantly. The scale of Korea’s nuclear power plant construction in particular, has increased gradually since it won a contract for a nuclear power plant construction project in the United Arab Emirates in 2009. However, time and monetary resources have been lost in some nuclear power plant construction sites due to lack of risk management ability. The need to prevent losses at nuclear power plant construction sites has become more urgent because it demands professional skills and large-scale resources. Therefore, in this study, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) were applied in order to make comparisons between decision-making methods, to assess the potential risks at nuclear power plant construction sites. To suggest the appropriate choice between two decision-making methods, a survey was carried out. From the results, the importance and the priority of 24 risk factors, classified by process, cost, safety, and quality, were analyzed. The FAHP was identified as a suitable method for risk assessment of nuclear power plant construction, compared with risk assessment using the AHP. These risk factors will be able to serve as baseline data for risk management in nuclear power plant construction projects.