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EPRI's Updated Seismic Fragility and Seismic Margin Guidance for Seismic Probabilistic Risk Assessments

Strategic Insights

— 1 min read

The United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued a document introducing EPRI's updated seismic fragility and seismic margin guidance for seismic probabilistic risk assessments. This document synthesizes the most relevant, state-of-the-art methods from EPRI's various past publications into a single, comprehensive resource for developing seismic fragilities in support of SPRAs. The new report, published in September 2018, supersedes several previous reports and incorporates relevant guidance from other related EPRI reports.

Key Takeaways:

  • The new report, EPRI Technical Report No. 3002012994, provides a comprehensive resource for developing seismic fragilities in support of SPRAs, synthesizing the most relevant methods from EPRI's past publications.
  • The report supersedes several previous reports, including Methodology for Developing Seismic Fragilities (TR-103959), Seismic Fragility Applications Guide (1002988), and Seismic Fragility Application Guide Update (1019200).
  • The new report also incorporates relevant guidance from other related EPRI reports, including A Methodology for Assessment of Nuclear Power Plant Seismic Margin (NP-6041-SLR1), Seismic Evaluation Guidance: Screening, Prioritization and Implementation Details (SPID) for the Resolution of Fukushima Near-Term Task Force Recommendation 2.1: Seismic (1025287), and SPRA Implementation Guide (3002000709).
  • The report provides numerous relevant, updated example calculations and uses consistent technical symbols and nomenclature throughout.
  • Fred Grant, Senior Project Manager at Simpson Gumpertz & Heger, Inc. (SGH), Greg Hardy, Senior Principal at SGH, and John Richards, Senior Technical Executive at Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), are the authors of the report.
  • The report introduces EPRI's seismic fragility and seismic margin guidance, which provides better characterization of probabilistic capacities for structures, systems, and components (SSCs) at nuclear facilities.

Statistics:

  • Over 40 years have passed since the first seismic probabilistic risk assessments (SPRAs) were performed for the nuclear power industry.
  • EPRI has published numerous reports pertaining to various aspects of SSC seismic margin and seismic fragility, with this new report synthesizing the most relevant methods.
  • The report supersedes several previous reports, including EPRI Technical Report No. TR-103959, published in [no date specified].

Sources:

  • EPRI Technical Report No. 3002012994, Seismic Fragility and Seismic Margin Guidance for Seismic Probabilistic Risk Assessments
  • EPRI's various past publications, including Methodology for Developing Seismic Fragilities (TR-103959), Seismic Fragility Applications Guide (1002988), and Seismic Fragility Application Guide Update (1019200)
  • A Methodology for Assessment of Nuclear Power Plant Seismic Margin (NP-6041-SLR1)
  • Seismic Evaluation Guidance: Screening, Prioritization and Implementation Details (SPID) for the Resolution of Fukushima Near-Term Task Force Recommendation 2.1: Seismic (1025287)
  • SPRA Implementation Guide (3002000709)

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