Selection of the Test Specimens for Seismic Tests of Air-Operated Valve Actuators for Nuclear Power Plants

The soundness for the function of air-operated valves in nuclear power plants during earthquake has been investigated via seismic test results and so forth. Since the seismic response acceleration has increased more and more with a recent reassessment of design earthquake ground motions conducted according to the revised Japanese nuclear safety regulation, it is necessary to evaluate the soundness for the function of various valves subject to large acceleration beyond design basis. The air-operated valves currently installed in the nuclear power plants in Japan play the important roles in the sever accident events. In this study, we classified them based on the valve type, manufactures and the previous test results. Furthermore, we proposed the strategy for evaluating the seismic-proof and the seismic test condition for examining the soundness of the dynamic function. Here, the dynamic function is defined as the function required under and after earthquakes.