Earthquake Resistant Nuclear Power Plants

by Donald Daniel, June 2011, revised Jun 2014

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If the plant is not on a fault line, the shock will be primarily translational, not rotational. It should be easy to build a plant immune to damage from translational shock. The base would be a large steel reinforced concrete block with flat metal top surface. On top of this would be a matching steel reinforced concrete block with a flat metal bottom surface. Between the two metal surfaces would be Teflon sheeting for lubrication. The power plant would be constructed over the upper block. This will prevent horizontal translational shock from being transmitted to the power plant. It will do nothing to lessen vertical shock, but vertical shock is much less likely to do damage. It is easier to design a safety margin for vertical shock into the plant.

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