Engineering characterization of ground motion for nuclear power plant design

The objective of this research study is to develop recommendations for methods for selecting design response spectra or time histories to be used to characterize earthquake ground motions at the foundation level of nuclear power plants. This objective will be accomplished by two tasks. In Task I, recommendations will be developed for methods for choosing translational response spectra taking into account nonlinear structural behavior. In Task II, the results of Task I will be integrated with further studies incorporating wave passage and soil-structure interaction effects to develop recommendations for choosing foundation-level design response spectra and input motions for translational and rotational motions. Task I has been essentially completed and Task II is being performed. This report provides a brief description of the summary and conclusions of Task I and the work plan for Task II