This Safety Guide supersedes the 2010 edition of IAEA Safety Standards Series No. SSG-9. It takes account of recently gained knowledge and practices developed by Member States related to seismic hazards, especially lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi accident. It also addresses concomitant events associated with earthquakes, such as tsunamis. The revision provides a clearer separation between the process for assessing the seismic hazards at a specific nuclear installation site and the process for defining the related basis for design and safety assessment of the nuclear installation. Thus, it bridges gaps and avoids undue overlap of the two processes, which correspond to and are performed at different stages of siting of the nuclear installation.

• 1. INTRODUCTION
  • Background
  • Objective
  • Scope
  • Structure
• 2. GENERAL ASPECTS OF SEISMIC HAZARD ASSESSMENT
• 3. DATABASE OF INFORMATION AND INVESTIGATIONS
  • General
  • Geological, geophysical and geotechnical database
    • Regional investigations
    • Near regional investigations
    • Site vicinity investigations
    • Site area investigations
  • Seismological database
    • Pre-historical and pre-instrumental historical earthquake data
    • Instrumental historical earthquake data
    • Project earthquake catalogue
    • Site specific instrumental data
• 4. DEVELOPMENT OF SEISMIC SOURCE MODELS
  • General
  • Seismogenic structures (identified seismic sources)
    • Identification
    • Characterization
  • Zones of diffuse seismicity
    • Identification
    • Characterization
• 5. METHODS FOR ESTIMATING VIBRATORY GROUND MOTION
  • General
  • Ground motion prediction equations
    • Selection criteria
    • Epistemic uncertainties of the technically defensible interpretations
  • Ground motion simulation methods
• 6. VIBRATORY GROUND MOTION HAZARD ANALYSIS
  • General
  • Probabilistic seismic hazard analysis
  • Deterministic seismic hazard analysis
  • Site response analysis
• 7. EVALUATION OF THE POTENTIAL FOR FAULT DISPLACEMENT AT THE SITE
  • General
  • Capable faults
    • Definition
    • Investigations necessary to determine capability
  • Capable fault issues for proposed new sites
  • Capable fault issues for sites with existing nuclear installations
• 8. PARAMETERS RELATING TO VIBRATORY GROUND MOTION HAZARDS, FAULT DISPLACEMENT HAZARDS AND OTHER HAZARDS ASSOCIATED WITH EARTHQUAKES
  • Vibratory ground motion hazards
    • Parameters and control point
    • Spectral representations
    • Time histories
    • Vertical ground motion
    • Ground motion for base isolated structures, buried structures and liquid reservoirs
  • Fault displacement hazards
  • Other hazards associated with earthquakes
    • Tsunamis
    • Liquefaction potential
    • Slope instability
    • Collapse due to cavities and subsidence phenomena
    • Failure of water retaining structures (dam break)
    • Volcano related phenomena
• 9. EVALUATION OF SEISMIC HAZARDS FOR NUCLEAR INSTALLATIONS OTHER THAN NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
  • General
  • Screening process
  • Categorization process
  • Vibratory ground motion hazard analysis and associated aspects
    • Vibratory ground motion hazard analysis
    • Geological and geotechnical aspects associated with seismic hazards
• 10. APPLICATION OF THE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
  • Aspects of project management
  • Engineering uses and output specification
  • Independent peer review
• REFERENCES
• Annex TYPICAL OUTPUT OF PROBABILISTIC SEISMIC HAZARD ANALYSES
• CONTRIBUTORS TO DRAFTING AND REVIEW