The OBE Elimination in Piping Design

The Operating Basis Earthquake (OBE) and Safe Shutdown Earthquake (SSE) have been considered in the design of nuclear power facilities as required by Appendix A to 10 CFR Part 100. However, it is believed that the elimination of the OBE from the design of nuclear facilities would be necessary for plant optimization since the OBE criterion is too rigid and has excessive conservatism. Studies indicate that alternative piping designs can exhibit reliability and safety levels equal to or greater than the current analysis methods. The alternative rules for the Earthquake Engineering Criteria have been issued by the Appendix S to 10 CFR 50. In the System 80 ʹ Design, the USNRC reviewed the alternate analysis methods which were proposed to eliminate the OBE based on the EPRI-URD and concluded that those were acceptable as stated in the NUREG-1462. In the Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR) developed as an ALWR, a typical piping model was selected to include ASME Classes 1, 2 and 3 piping and was analyzed according to the current method as well as the alternate analysis method, specified in NUREG1462, for comparison.