THE ASSESSMENT OF IMPACT ON NUCLEAR-POWER-PLANT STRUCTURES IN THE UNITED-KINGDOM

Impact research in the United Kingdom has embraced a wide range of topics during the last fifteen years and advice has been provided in the form of guidelines for use in safety assessments and design studies. It is now the intention to produce a comprehensive Impact Assessment Procedure encompassing the definition of loading, whipping pipe effects and the response of steel and concrete targets. This paper is restricted to introducing the methods used for characterising missiles from pressurised vessels and for determining the impact damage produced in concrete targets. Considerable reliance has been placed on the interpretation of experimental data and guidance is therefore limited by the availability of such data. This paper indicates the extent to which advice can be given and the issues which still need further attention. An example is given of the use of the methods for characterising missiles from a cylindrical pressure vessel.