ML20212M188
Text
- - - -.
. _ _ _ _ _,6 d isavaw=
a.
.w 421 Adelse I'le.ee I Palo Alto, California 9430G FFR 161978
~
hY0 Y
November 21, 1977 To:
Subject:
Diablo Canyon Scismic Design Bases This is a response to Dr. Siess's request of November 3 for an opinion on :hether "the NRC staff requirements are adoqua'te to provide reasonable assurance that there will be no unduc hazard to the health and safety of the public."
Hy opinion is that the staff requirements are.
adequato, but I wish to qualify the basis for this opinion.
I am far better informed on the geologic data and seismic probabilities than on the transla-tion of those into the design spectra ;;hich accompan-ied Dr. Siess's letter.
As I indicated at various times during hearings on the Hosgri' fault and later in my letter of July 22, 1977 to John IicKinley, large displacements on the Hcsgri =cnc probably tcpered off by 5 million. years ago.
I also do not believe the 1927 earthquake was on the Hosgri.
If correct, these interpretations place a comfortably large conservatism i
on the assumed earthquake used for design.
As'noted, I am less familiar with some of the engineering inter-protations but I am also not aware of any flavts in them.
h 3,
M
~
.O ggg Ge9cge A. Thompson Geoj:hysicist '
C 0600250406 060001 PDR FOIA HOUGH 96-391 PDR
~.
f'bre 4-39f m
f4 -IO tr -
._.. ~. -
... - _ y'
,m e
.)
s FEB 161978 STANFORD UNIVERSITY T (.4 ;
i i<
STANFORD. cal.lFORNIA 943o3 29 Novemb'er 1977 UAtiMENT of cloLocY
" k....' :..:
fwa.s a n.s. s-n Dr. Chester P. Siess
' [L' 5 A.. i. 3'.
805 llamilton Dr.
61f]2.0 Champaign, Illinois I$ihi.rl:i. ;l.gf
..?.
l U.C T(. t
Dear Chester:
Recently you asked for our opinion regardi,ng the Staff-approved seismic design response spectra for the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant.
Based on my limited knowledge of the, facts, reasoning, and procedures that have resulted in the desig.: response spectra. I have no reason to doubt the adequacy of the latter.
My degree of confidence is naturally greatest with respect to the factors which are within my own realm of experience, and is weak in areas about which I know very little. I am confident tha t t'he S t a f f and the U.S.G.S. have assessed the importance and potential of the Hosgri fault in a prudent and conservative manner. Geologic evidence N
indicates that the f ault is " capable". 'Ihe chance tha t a major carth-quake will originate on the f ault at a point near the plant during the life of the facility is slight, but the assumption that such an earth-quake might indeed occur is a necessary, conservative starting. point in' the derivation of seismic design requirements. The earthquake and its attenuation have been thoughtfully addressed by respected experts whose methods seem to me to be sound and logical. I know less about the interaction between the ground and the plant structures, and the tau-f actor to be applied to various parts of the Diablo Canyarr plant is entirely beyond the scope of my competence. To the extent t.ia t these considerations enter into the design requirements, I can only vaguely judge the adequacy of the final result by the apparent plausibility of the presentations we have heard and read, l
In conclusion, I agree with the geologic and tectonic considerations which have been utilized by the Staff. The earthquake which has been adopted seems reasonable, as does the attenuation.
Insof ar as these f actors are reflected in the design spectra, I have confidence in the latter. In addition, on geologic grounds I think the probability that the postulated major carthquake will occur is very small.
I 1
Sincerely, N=
Donjamin M. Page s
l s.-
(..
.)
1 wm. _
rw 4 a ma --
DISTRIBUTION FOR MEETING SumARY E. G. Case T. I;;;!ik R. S. Boyd V. Moore R. C. DeYoung F. Rosa W. Gammill C
n -
o-__."-
J. Stel:
G. Knighton K. Kniel J. Stepp
- 0. Parr W. Haass S. Varga t.De-Attison iC. Heltemes f. V. C;.m.. -
L. Crocker E. Sullivan D. Crutchfield R. Lipinski F. Williams P. T. Kuo
,. J. ",ettse,
.D. Jeng H. Denton J,h
, D. Muller J. Jackson B. Scotti
-L.Ycrderbrueg;;.,(!ac"eg;..V)
IE (3)
Dr. N. Newmark, U of ILL.
ACRS(28)
Dr. W. Hall, U of ILL.
L. Dreher J. Devine, USGS L. Rubenstein R. Hofmann R. Denise L. Reiter J. Knight J. Murphy D. Ross I. Wall fh--Tadesee-S. Levine
. R. Bosnak L. Shao S. Pawlicki H. Levin 4.-Sih ait J. Rowe P. Check J. Tourtellotte Z. Rosztoczy L. D. Davis G. Lainas R. Goddard v
o_----..-
^*'
teon
[,d&Jl4
-setur j
- i. - a
[O.I 13
- I's ',
f l
i l
l l
I
.~
)
J cc: Pacific Gas and Electric Company ATTN: Mr. John C. Morrissey Vice President & General Counsel 77 Beale Street San Francisco, California 94106 Mr. James 0. Schuyler, Nuclear Projects Engineer Philip A. Crane, Jr., Esq.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company Pacific Gas and Electric Company 77 Beale Street San Francisco, California 94106 77 Beale Street San Francisco, California 94106 Mr. W. C. Gangloff Janice E. Kerr, Esq.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation California Public Utilities Commission P. O. Box 355 350 McAllister Street Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230 San Francisco, California 94102 Brent Rushforth, Esq.
Mr. Frederick Eissler, President Center for Law in the Public Scenic Shoreline Preservation Interest-Conference, Inc.
10203 Santa Monica Boulevard 4623 More Mesa Drive Los Angeles, California 90067
(
Santa Barbara, California 93105 Arthur C. Gehr. Esq.
Ms. Elizabeth E. Apfelberg Sr. ell & Wilmer 1415 Cazadero 3100 Valley Center San Luis Obispo, California 93401 Phoenix, Arizona 85073 Ms. Sandra A. Silver Bruce Norton, Esq.
425 Luneta Drive 3216 North 3rd Street San Luis Obispo, California 93401 Suite 202 Phoenix, Arizona 85012 Mr. Gordon'A. Silver 425 Luneta Drive Michael R. Klein, Esq.
San Luis Obispo, California 93401 Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering 1666 K Street, N. W.
1 Paul C. Valentine, Esq.
Washington, D. C.
20006 S
f 321 Lytton Avenue David F. Fleischaker, Esq.
Palo Alto, California 94302 102515th Street, N. W.
l lj.c. i
<Jf Yale I. Jones Esq.
5th Floor 100 Van Ness Avenue Washington, D. C.
20005 19th Floor San Francisco, Cal'ifonria 94102 Mr. R. C. Martin, Geologist i
California Division of Mines and Ms. Raye Fleming Geology l
107 South Broadway 1746 Chorro Street San Luis Obispo, California 93401 Room 1063 Los Angeles, California 90012 db
-e,---
.,s,w-,---
e.wne,,-,,,, -,,,.
-w----.-..,,,,,,,,,-e,,,_,_,-e--,,,,,--,,---w.,_
e--nn e,
,