[ Print | E-mail |
Share ] [ Close Window ]Contact: Lynn Nystrom
tansy@vt.edu
540-231-4371
Virginia Tech
Assessing the seismic hazard of the central eastern United States
 | ||||
|  | |  | |
| | 
| | |
|  | |  | |
| ||||
As the U.S. policy makers renew emphasis on the use of nuclear energy in their efforts to reduce the country's oil dependence, other factors come into play. One concern of paramount importance is the seismic hazard at the site where nuclear reactors are located.
Russell A. Green, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at Virginia Tech, spent five years as an earthquake engineer for the U.S. Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board in Washington, D.C., prior to becoming a university professor. Part of his responsibility at the safety board was to perform seismic safety analyses on the nation's defense nuclear facilities.
"I found the greatest uncertainty in seismic analyses was related to the ground motions used in the analyses…Many of the facilities being analyzed were already built and operating, and the facilities were already heavily contaminated with radioactive material," Green said.
