Uncertainty analysis of system fragility for seismic safety evaluation of NPP

In this study, a Seismic Probabilistic Safety Assessment (SPSA) methodology considering the uncertainty of fragilities was studied. A system fragility curve is estimated by combining component fragilities expressed by two variance sources, inherent randomness and modeling uncertainty. The sampling based methods, Monte Carlo Simulation (MCS) and Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS), were used to quantify the uncertainties of the system fragility. The SPSA of an existing nuclear power plant (NPP) was performed to compare the two uncertainty analysis methods. Convergence of the uncertainty analysis for the system fragility was estimated by calculating High Confidence Low Probability of Failure (HCLPF) capacity. Alternate HCLPF capacity by composite standard deviation was also verified. The annual failure frequency of the NPP was estimated and the result was discussed with that from the other researches. As a result, the criteria of the uncertainty analysis and its effect was investigated.

► The uncertainty of system fragility converged by the sample size over one thousand. ► The LHS method needs a large enough sample size to avoid non-conservative estimation. ► Alternative HCLPF capacity method briefly estimates the HCLPF in conservative way.