On June 8-9, 2015, PEER hosted the latest in a series of Pacific Rim Forums focusing on the critical issue of resilience of nuclear facilities including nuclear power systems. Ensuring a resilient system that adequately addresses safety, response and mitigation concerns for extreme seismic and tsunami events is essential to achieving a safe facility and realizing the full potential of nuclear power for addressing the energy and environmental needs of a technologically advancing world. The Forum event was hosted in collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, American Association of Structural Mechanics in Reactor Technology (AASMiRT), and Japan Atomic Industrial Forum (JAIF).
PEER participants joined other invited international experts and leaders from around the Pacific Rim and Europe, from a broad cross-section of academic institutions, national laboratories, commercial sector entities, and governmental agencies. The Forum pr
ovided an opportunity to share perspectives on nuclear facility resilience, and it strived to develop consensus views on technology gaps that present barriers to the full realization of a robust, performance-based design for nuclear systems.
Keynote speakers included:
- Dr. George Apostolakis, Nuclear Risk Research Center, Japan
- Dr. Yoshiaki Oka, Japan Atomic Energy Commission
- Mr. Toshiyuki Abe, with a message from the Japan Atomic Industrial Forum
The program included presentations and panel discussions on the following topics:
- Natural hazard characterization
- Risk informed, performance-based design standards for structures, systems and components
- Simulation tools for enabling performance-based design
- Emerging technologies for aseismic design of nuclear facilities
- Current challenges for the practitioner and industry
- Emergency response and mitigation
PEER researchers and colleagues who made presentations included:
- Steve Mahin
- Stu Nishenko
- Yousef Bozorgnia
- Hong-Kie Thio
- Patrick Lynett
- Norm Abrahamson
- Joel Conte
- Bozidar Stojadinovic
- Nicholas Sitar
- John Richards
- Falko Kuester
- Annie Kammerer
After the event, reports from many participants indicated great appreciation for the range of topics covered, the high technical quality of the presentations, and the incisive and far-ranging discussions of opportunities and challenges related to risk assessment and resilience.
More information about the Forum, agenda, and presentations can be found on the 2017 UCPR Forum Agenda and Presentations page.