Canadian Nuclear Energy Infrastructure Resilience under Seismic Systemic Risk (CaNRisk)

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The 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami catastrophe in Japan gave a clear message to every country that relies on nuclear energy of the urgent need to ensure that its nuclear infrastructure is resilient and possesses adequate redundancy and robustness in the event of natural disasters. Recent work conducted by the US Geological Survey and in Canada has shown that previous seismological studies, based on outdated geological data, dramatically underestimated the level of seismic hazard east of the Rocky Mountains (where all the currently operational Canadian nuclear infrastructure is located). This situation has created a critical need for major seismic qualification efforts within the Canadian nuclear energy industry. The CaNRisk program relates to the seismic safety assessment and resilience enhancement of nuclear power plants (NPP) following an interdisciplinary system-level approach. The program training will focus on quantifying the probability of failure of critical structures, systems, and components in NPP reactor safety systems under different seismic hazard levels. The generated fragility data are essential to develop a scientifically rigorous framework for probabilistic risk assessment, which is emerging as the best practice for quantifying NPP resilience. The CaNRisk program also focuses on minimizing the environmental risk of spent nuclear fuel to be permanently stored within the planned Canadian Deep Geologic Repository. The proposed interdisciplinary academic training will be integrated with hands-on industrial internship and professional development experiences to facilitate smooth transition of the program trainees to the workforce. Through meeting its objectives, the CaNRisk program will generate crucial knowledge that will continue to be in demand -especially as Canada's dependence on fossil fuels is reduced. Through its knowledge mobilization approach from the academia to industrial applications, the program will also position Canada as the world leader in nuclear resilience and sustainability technologies and develop the next generation of industry leaders in Canada and internationally.