Making the World Earthquake Safe

These AGRs, unique to the U.K., were designed and built in the 1970s and 80s.  Their nuclear core is made up of thousands of interlocking graphite bricks. As these reactors age fine cracks occur in the graphite bricks. It is important that EDF Energy is able to prove that under extreme conditions like a severe seismic event these cracks would not cause the bricks to move in a way that would prevent the reactor from safely shutting down.

To help understand the effect of an earthquake on the nuclear core, a high precision, quarter-sized scale model of an AGR graphite reactor core, containing over 40,000 components and 3,200 sensors, has been developed and built by researchers at Bristol.  The model AGR Core is shaken on Bristol’s earthquake shaking table to find out how the ageing graphite bricks behave during an earthquake.

Colin Taylor, Professor of Earthquake Engineering in the Department of Civil Engineering, said: “The team designed and developed the whole model, including bespoke miniaturized data sensor systems that are inserted in many of the model bricks to measure their response in detail.  We believe this is the most complicated shaking table experiment ever undertaken and our research can contribute to nuclear safety in the years to come”.

“We hope, as well as having fun, some of the young people visiting our exhibit will recognize earthquake engineering is relevant in the U.K., to protect important structures such as nuclear installations, and consider engineering as a degree option.”

Dr. Jim Reed, Chief Graphite Engineer at EDF Energy, added: “Safety is paramount at our nuclear power stations. The results from the tests being carried out have been used to improve and validate the computer models that are used by EDF Energy to assess the seismic safety cases of all of our reactors and have helped us to show that the reactors would be able to shutdown as designed with no erosion of safety.”

Members of the public attending the exhibition have the opportunity to:

·  Be an earthquake: by feeling the force of the interaction of a building with an earthquake;

·  Be an earthquake engineer: by having a go at making a building safe from an earthquake;

·  Be a nuclear engineer: by finding out how researchers are helping make nuclear power stations safe from earthquakes.

Bristol say that the science and technology event provides the public with a unique opportunity to interact with scientists and engineers and ask questions about their work. The exhibition involves a highly competitive selection process, with only 22 research groups chosen to host an exhibit – meaning the U.K.’s leading scientific research is collated in one place.