Context & Motivation

building on previous research to better assess seismic risk

In response to the 2011 Fukushima accident, an immense research effort has been carried out over the last few years to improve the assessment of seismic hazard and its impact on nuclear structures and equipment. Nevertheless, further work is necessary to overcome the challenges faced in seismic risk assessments of nuclear power plants (NPP) and to maximise the impact of this research effort on nuclear engineering practice.

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Nuclear power plants are strong, well maintained, and have much smaller failure probabilities than those of conventional structures.

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To assess the seismic safety of NPPs, the likelihood of extremely rare seismic events occurring must be taken into consideration.

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Specific statistical approaches and careful data analyses are required to fully assess the probability and impact of such an event.

Today in Europe, there is a lack of consensus on best practices for the seismic safety assessment of nuclear power plants, and clear guidelines regarding uncertainty assessments and the interpretation of their results are needed.

The METIS project aims to respond to this need by consolidating previous findings and developing more sophisticated tools and methodologies to assess plant behavior under extreme conditions.

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