Seismic Resilience Quantification of Concrete Systems in Canada's Nuclear Infrastructure

地震引发的核灾难可以在全球范围内造成毁灭性的后果。因此，核部件、系统和结构通常被设计为在规定的设计基础地震下保持其功能，以执行其预期的安全功能。然而，在2011年日本东北地震和海啸灾难之后，此类结构的地震安全性引起了包括加拿大核安全委员会在内的全球核监管机构的高度关注。这场灾难凸显了确保加拿大核能基础设施在超出设计基础的地震下具有足够弹性的迫切需要。根据加拿大保险局委托的一份报告，加拿大的大部分基础设施将在大地震后遭受严重破坏。该报告估计，在魁北克-蒙特利尔-渥太华走廊发生的破坏性地震将导致超过490亿美元的直接损失。拟议研究计划的三个相互关联的重点领域旨在为加拿大核基础设施开发先进的基于地震弹性的量化工具。重点区域1将涉及测试类似于加拿大核结构在准静态循环荷载下的钢筋混凝土墙，以模拟不同程度的地震危险。这样的墙将被设计得足够厚，既能屏蔽辐射，又能防爆炸和防火。该重点区域将产生必要的实验验证，以量化此类墙的滞后响应，这是基于规范的设计和抗震性能评估的关键。重点领域II将包括完整钢筋混凝土核结构的混合模拟（计算机建模与实时物理测试相结合）。这个重点区域将有助于量化这种厚墙的系统级地震反应，而不需要重建与结构的其余部分相关的（通常非常大的）质量和刚度。重点领域III将致力于利用数值和数据驱动建模技术开发核结构的系统级性能预测模型。这些模型将被整合到概率风险评估工具中，以促进加拿大核基础设施在非设计基础地震下的弹性量化。加拿大核工业每年创造超过60亿美元的收入，提供3万多个直接就业机会，同时也满足加拿大政府的几个大气排放目标。该行业需要基于弹性的量化工具，类似于在拟议的研究计划中开发的工具。采用这些工具将为加拿大社区在自然灾害下提供安全的基础设施系统，也将利用加拿大的清洁发电状况，显著减少温室气体排放。

An earthquake-induced nuclear disaster can cause devastating consequences at the global level. As such, nuclear components, systems, and structures are typically designed to maintain their functionality under specified design-basis earthquakes in order to perform their intended safety functions. However, after the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami catastrophe in Japan, the seismic safety of such structures has attracted much attention of nuclear regulators worldwide, including the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission. The catastrophe highlighted the urgent need to ensure that Canada's nuclear energy infrastructure is resilient enough under beyond-design-basis earthquakes. According to a report commissioned by the Insurance Bureau of Canada, a major portion of Canada's infrastructure will experience substantial damage following a major earthquake. The report estimates that a realistic damaging earthquake in the Quebec City-Montreal-Ottawa corridor would result in direct losses of more than $49 billion. The three interrelated focus areas of the proposed research program are structured to develop advanced seismic resilience-based quantification tools for Canada's nuclear infrastructure. Focus Area I will involve testing reinforced concrete walls similar to those in Canadian nuclear structures under quasi-static cyclic loading that simulates different levels of seismic hazard. Such walls will be uniquely designed to be thick enough for radiation shielding as well as blast and fire protection. This focus area will yield the necessary experimental validation to quantify the hysteretic response of such walls that is key for both code-based design and seismic performance assessment. Focus Area II will include hybrid simulation (computer modelling combined with real-time physical testing) of complete reinforced concrete nuclear structures. This focus area will facilitate quantifying the system-level seismic response of such thick walls without the need to recreate the (often very large) mass and stiffness associated with the rest of the structure. Focus Area III will aim at developing system-level performance predictive models for nuclear structures using numerical and data-driven modelling techniques. These models will be integrated into probabilistic risk assessment tools to facilitate resilience quantification of Canada's nuclear infrastructure under beyond-design-basis earthquakes. The Canadian nuclear industry generates revenues of over $6 billion every year and provides over 30,000 direct jobs, while also meeting several Canadian government atmospheric emission objectives. The industry is in need of resilience-based quantification tools similar to those to be developed in the proposed research program. Adopting such tools will provide Canadian communities safe infrastructure systems under natural hazards and also will capitalize on Canada's clean electricity generation profile to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.