Anti-seismic protection in nuclear power plant

Since the Fukushima disaster, the seismic range considered in nuclear power plant design has become much more demanding. The major challenge was to come up with an alternative to the standard spring box for protecting nuclear power station equipment and ensuring that strategic equipment works effectively under extreme conditions.

At Socitec, we use dynamic applications such as compressed spring systems, oscillating and rolling bridges for the high-risk transport of nuclear fuel, as well as the manufacturing of nuclear containers in contaminated areas of power plants.

Socitec designed a decoupling system using wrapped cable isolators due to their high performance. This form of coiled cable provides great flexibility, damping capacity, significant deformation, and energy dissipation that are not affected by temperature, humidity, or chemicals, thus ensuring a lifespan as long as the equipment it protects.

Through years of research and development, Socitec has gained in-depth expertise in the dynamic modeling of equipment. We used the SYMOS software to model equipment mounted on isolators, represented by elastic connections with nonlinear stiffness and isolation properties. This allowed us to design a cable isolator suspension for a lightning arrester under seismic conditions.