A Summary of the Seismic Qualification Utilities Group (SQUG) Program

Yanev, Peter I.; Swan, Sam W.; Smith, Paul D.; Smith, Neil P.; Thomas, James E.; ,

A Summary of the Seismic Qualification Utilities Group (SQUG) Program

by Peter I. Yanev, EQE Inc, San Francisco, CA, USA,
Sam W. Swan, EQE Inc, San Francisco, CA, USA,
Paul D. Smith, EQE Inc, San Francisco, CA, USA,
Neil P. Smith, EQE Inc, San Francisco, CA, USA,
James E. Thomas, EQE Inc, San Francisco, CA, USA,

Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Seismic Experience Data?Nuclear and Other Plants

Abstract:

In December of 1980, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) initiated Unresolved Safety Issue (USI) A-46 to address the question of the seismic adequacy of equipment in 49 operating nuclear power plants (72 units) that were not licensed to current criteria. To resolve USI A-46, the NRC expected to develop criteria for reverification of the seismic adequacy of the equipment in the plants. Much of the equipment in these operating plants was installed when design requirements, seismic analysis, and documentation were less formal than the current rigorous practice. It was realized that providing documentation for the seismic qualification or requalification of safety-related equipment using procedures applicable to plants currently under design would be costly and impractical. The initial purpose was to develop a practical alternative to the rigorous seismic qualification of equipment. This alternative would be based on a thorough review of the performance in past earthquakes of equipment that is representative of typical nuclear power plant equipment. Refs.

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