Civil Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 17.1
Reinforcement of the roof of the Vitrification Facility Karlsruhe (Ger.: VEK)—the load
case airplane crash is the design basis for the massive reinforcement
integrity is guaranteed. It is not expected that an impacting aircraft would penetrate
the shell of the building or that a significant amount of kerosene would enter the
interior of the building. The global structural stability of the reactor building, which
is designed to withstand earthquakes and the pressure waves of explosions, also
seems to be assured according to the hitherto existing examinations.
In addition to the local and global mechanical robustness the induced vibrations
must also be examined. The above given examples of the calculations of the
response spectra show that their effects can be considerable. The accelerations for
the loading of components are expected to be up to four times as high for the impact
of a commercial aircraft than for a Phantom. Because the safety of a facility
depends on the weakest link in the chain of evidence, a differentiated examination
and possibly additional investigations are necessary to address this problem. For the
facilities that use the so-called 0.5 g concept, the applicability of the process for a
postulated impact of a heavy passenger aircraft should be verified.
The situation is judged to be more critical for the older nuclear power facilities
(cf. Table
12.2
). The physical structures of the enclosure were not designed for the
crash of a Phantom. The thicknesses of the reinforced concrete walls of these
facilities are relatively small. Even without detailed investigations it can be said
from experience in the design and robustness of such structures that these facilities
are not able to withstand the impact of an aircraft without additional measures.
Until the end of the decay phase and the transfer of the radioactive inventory into
Castor containers there is a threat from an aircraft impact. By installing a supple-
mentary protective superstructure it would however be possible from a technical
viewpoint to realize an effective safeguard against an airplane crash in older
facilities as well.
