A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Environmental siting of nuclear power plants
Summary Environmental hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis play an increasingly important role in the decisions concerning the design and operation of nuclear power plants. In the light of some new findings in geophysics, it is suggested that the geotectonic environment is the dominant factor, rather than peak acceleration as estimated from magnitude-distance scaling laws, for determining the susceptibility of a given site to seismic damage. Maximum intensity is the appropriate parameter in site selection. No site on soft ground can be made as safe as a site on bedrock, independently of the SSE which is used, since seismic effects are random. Intensity zoning is more conservative than the use of deterministic scaling laws, because the more hazardous sites can be excluded in advance. The concept of intensity zoning is equally applicable on the regional and on the local scale. It leads to a more realistic philosophy of siting, which emphasizes the overall operational safety under environmental loads. The distribution of peak intensities differs according to the geotectonic environment; as an example, subduction zones are compared with strike-slip tectonics. It is suggested that intensity zoning will tend to encourage standard plant designs to fit each intensity zone, thus making plants safer, faster to license and simpler to operate in emergencies. World-wide mapping of geotectonic hazards is a major necessity.
Environmental siting of nuclear power plants
Summary Environmental hazards such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis play an increasingly important role in the decisions concerning the design and operation of nuclear power plants. In the light of some new findings in geophysics, it is suggested that the geotectonic environment is the dominant factor, rather than peak acceleration as estimated from magnitude-distance scaling laws, for determining the susceptibility of a given site to seismic damage. Maximum intensity is the appropriate parameter in site selection. No site on soft ground can be made as safe as a site on bedrock, independently of the SSE which is used, since seismic effects are random. Intensity zoning is more conservative than the use of deterministic scaling laws, because the more hazardous sites can be excluded in advance. The concept of intensity zoning is equally applicable on the regional and on the local scale. It leads to a more realistic philosophy of siting, which emphasizes the overall operational safety under environmental loads. The distribution of peak intensities differs according to the geotectonic environment; as an example, subduction zones are compared with strike-slip tectonics. It is suggested that intensity zoning will tend to encourage standard plant designs to fit each intensity zone, thus making plants safer, faster to license and simpler to operate in emergencies. World-wide mapping of geotectonic hazards is a major necessity.
Environmental siting of nuclear power plants
Lomnitz, C. (author)
1981
Article (Journal)
Electronic Resource
English
BKL:
56.00$jBauwesen: Allgemeines
/
38.58
Geomechanik
/
38.58$jGeomechanik
/
56.20
Ingenieurgeologie, Bodenmechanik
/
56.00
Bauwesen: Allgemeines
/
56.20$jIngenieurgeologie$jBodenmechanik
RVK:
ELIB18
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