The Assessment of Tornado Missile Hazard to Nuclear Power Plants

Abstract

Numerical methods and computer codes for assessing tornado missile hazards to nuclear power plants are developed. The method of calculation has been based on the theoretical model developed earlier by authors. Historical data for tornado characteristics are taken from computerized files of the National Severe Storms Forecast Center and potential missiles characteristics are adopted from an EPRI report [1]. Due to the uncertainty and randomness of tornado and tornado-generated missiles' characteristics, the damage probability of targets has highly spread distribution. The proposed method is very useful for assessing the risk of not providing protection to some nonsafety-related targets whose failure can create a hazard to the safe operation of nuclear power plants.