Performance Based Failure Criteria of the Base Isolation System for Nuclear Power Plants

The realistic approach to evaluate the failure state of the base isolation system is necessary. From this point of view, several concerns are reviewed and discussed in this study. This is the preliminary study for the performance based risk assessment of a base isolated nuclear power plant. The items to evaluate the capacity and response of an individual base isolator and a base isolation system were briefly outlined. However, the methodology to evaluate the realistic fragility of a base isolation system still needs to be specified. For the quantification of the seismic risk for a nuclear power plant structure, the failure probabilities of the structural component for the various seismic intensity levels need to be calculated. The failure probability is evaluated as the probability when the seismic response of a structure exceeds the failure criteria. Accordingly, the failure mode of the structural system caused by an earthquake vibration should be defined first. The type of a base isolator appropriate for a nuclear power plant structure is regarded as an elastometric rubber bearing with a lead core. The failure limit of the lead-rubber bearing (LRB) is not easy to be predicted because of its high nonlinearity and a complex loading condition by an earthquake excitation. Furthermore, the failure mode of the LRB system installed below the nuclear island cannot be simply determined because the basemat can be sufficiently supported if the number of damaged isolator is not much