Development of Design Guidelines for Seismically Isolated Nuclear Reactors and Research and Development Work Performed by ENEA

ENEA began work on seismic isolation in Italy in 1988 in cooperation with ISMES. Until now, work has been limited to horizontal systems and focused on high-damping steel-laminated elastomer bearings. Work consists of both the assessment of proposed design guidelines for isolated nuclear reactors (developed in collaboration with General Electric Company) and research and development (R&D) experimental and numerical studies, partly performed in support of the guideline development. Experiments include static and dynamic characterization of single bearings, analysis of a full-scale isolated structure and an actual building with in situ techniques, and shake table tests of scaled isolated structures. The main features of the guidelines document and R&D studies are described, and some initial measured data are presented.