Conformity check of JMTR to new regulatory standards

With the lesson learned from the accident of TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, also based on the international standards, the 'New regulatory standards for nuclear facilities for research! was enforced by the Nuclear Regulatory Authority in December 2013. The main requirements of the new standards are as follows: (1) measures for earthquake, tsunami, and damage from the outside, (2) severity classification, (3) fire protection, (4) flood protection, (5) communication and contacting, (6) measures for the loss of external power supply, (7) monitoring equipment, and (8) expansion prevention of accident that releases a large amounts of radioactive materials. Under the new regulatory standards, it is demanded that the constructions, systems, and equipment with safety functions of the current nuclear facilities should maintain the safety functions in accordance with their importance against the basic ground motions and possible natural phenomena. For the buildings, equipment, and machineries of JMTR nuclear facilities, the severity classification was performed on each of safety function and seismic resistance. Based on the classification results, seismic evaluation and safety analysis were carried out. (A.O.)