Seismic isolation of safety-related nuclear structures

The forthcoming update of ASCE 4 includes expanded provisions for analysis, design of seismically isolated nuclear structures and testing of seismic isolation bearings. The paper describes the provisions and their technical basis. The analysis and design provisions are consistent with the ASCE 43-05 performance objectives for nuclear structures, namely, 1) 1% probability of unacceptable performance for 100% Design Basis Earthquake (DBE) shaking, and 2) 10% probability of unacceptable performance for 150% DBE shaking.

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