Light Water Reactor Design Against External Events - The Risks of Nuclear Energy Technology - page 152

Direction of seismic accelerations
Fig. 7.3 Example of a numerical solution (magnified scale) for displacements of and in the reactor
building [ 23 ]
Fig. 7.4 Various floors with components in a reactor building [ 22 ]
must not exceed the upper limits prescribed (RSK-LL [ 10 ]). In other countries
similar requirements are valid [ 2 - 4 ].
Where horizontal or vertical displacements and the resultant stresses are too
high, the components may be supported and protected by means of damping
elements.
For nuclear power plants in seismic zones, the entire plant may be built on
thousands of damping elements located in the foundation bottom slab of the reactor
building (Fig. 7.5 [ 26 , 27 ]).
This type of construction nowadays is considered a mature technology and is
employed in large non-nuclear buildings in seismic areas (Tokyo, Los Angeles
etc.). There are four nuclear power plants at Cruas, France, and two nuclear power
plants at Koeberg, South Africa, as well as the spent fuel pool at the reprocessing
plant La Hague, France, featuring this design [ 26 , 27 ].