Seismic Safety and Hazard Protection for Canadian Nuclear Power Plants: A Review Study

Abstract of the technical paper/presentation presented at: SMiRT 28

Prepared by: Maha Abdallah
Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission

Abstract:

This paper will present a review study of the seismic requirements and seismic hazard protection for Canadian nuclear power plants (NPPs). CANDU (CANada Deuterium Uranium) is the Canadian heavy-water reactor design used at operating Canadian NPPs as well as at many heavy-water reactors outside of Canada. CANDU plants were designed and constructed to fulfill safety and seismic design requirements at the time of construction, with some updates made to plants during their operating lifecycle. Seismic safety requirements in Canada are evolving to account for new information on site-specific geological and seismic hazards, methodologies and experience acquired following strong earthquakes. Seismic qualification requirements for NPPs in Canada are provided by the CSA N289 series of standards.

This paper will include an overview of the seismic design for CANDU NPPs, along with seismic hazards and their impact on the safety of the NPPs. It will demonstrate why it has been concluded that Canadian NPPs are safe due to their robust plant design at the time of construction; upgrades resulting from seismic hazard re-evaluation; the assessed need to withstand earthquakes much stronger than design-basis earthquakes; and the implementation of lessons learned from NPPs .

To obtain a copy of the abstract’s document, please contact us at cnsc.info.ccsn@canada.ca or call 613-995-5894 or 1-800-668-5284 (in Canada). When contacting us, please provide the title and date of the abstract.