U C L A

Civil & Environmental Engineering Department

Presents

CEE 249 Seminar Series

Risk-informed seismic design of US nuclear power plants

by

Annie Kammerer, Ph.D.

Senior Seismologist and Earthquake Engineer

US Nuclear Regulatory Commission

Rockville, MD

November 12, 2009

4:00 – 5:00PM

Kinsey Pavilion 1220B

Abstract

As a response to global warming, a national desire for energy independence, and a package of federally backed financial incentives, the US Nuclear industry is on the verge of constructing the first new nuclear power plants in decades. We are entering what some are calling “a US nuclear renaissance” in which dozens of new nuclear plants are expected to be built. Recently there have been significant changes in the seismic design of the next generation of nuclear power plants, and in the regulatory processes through which their safety is assessed. Nuclear plants have special structural properties and highly stringent performance based goals that make their design challenging and interesting. This presentation will discuss the special properties of nuclear plants as compared to other structures, the risk-informed regulatory framework under which US plants are licensed, and the approach to design that will assure safety of the next generation of nuclear power facilities.

Biographical Sketch: Dr. Annie Kammerer is a senior seismologist and earthquake engineer in the Office of Research of the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, where she is the coordinator and manager of the seismic and tsunami research programs. At the NRC she is also responsible for the update of earthquake-related regulatory guidance and was principal author of newly published Regulatory guide 1.208, which describes the seismic hazard requirements for new nuclear plants in the US. Prior to joining the US NRC in 2006, she was a consultant in the Risk and Advanced Technology groups in the international design firm, Arup. As seismic hazard lead for the Americas, her consulting work encompassed a wide variety of areas including geotechnical earthquake engineering, structural dynamics, seismology and risk assessment. Her work focused principally in the energy, industrial and transportation sectors and included dozens of projects around the world. She’s a graduate of UC Berkeley, where her doctoral research was focused on the behavior of liquefiable soils under multi-directional loading.