Consideration of external natural impacts in the design of hazardous production facilities

Abstract

In the contemporary society the need for assurance of technological and environmental safety of production facilities (PF), including hazardous ones, is dictated by technological development of the economy. This fact presupposes that the criteria of potential natural factors (geological, hydrological, meteorological) impact should be clarified during the design process. Insignificant number of available scientific generalizations of external factors impact on PF does not allow for making an initial protectability assessment of production complexes and adjacent areas. This research is aimed at developing a methodical approach to considering natural effects (including the extreme impacts) in assurance of PF’s technological protection and environmental safety in the areas adjacent to PF. The use of threshold probability of beyond design basis accident as the main probabilistic criterion is substantiated for decision making on whether to consider the external natural factors impact on PF or not. Along with it, is shown that the specified levels of probability of various natural factors occurrence should be revised upwards with account of detailed computations of accident scenarios at a PF. It is noted that risk management of PF exposure to external natural impacts should stipulate that monitoring of such factors should be arranged and carried out.

Hydrometeorological monitoring in the Nizhny Novgorod NPP siting area

“…If the construction of the nuclear power plant continues, the SIA Gidrotekhproekt plans to equip the monitoring system with equipment for remote measurement of wind and temperature in the atmosphere [9]. Such measurements, as shown by the experience of the SIA Gidrotekhproekt at the Belarussian NPP site [10], make it possible to successfully study the atmospheric dispersion.…”

Development of safety management technology of electric power networks in order to sustainable development

“…The instability of meteorological conditions can lead to significant negative consequences for human life and activities [12][13]. For forecasting and diagnosing meteorological conditions, it is advisable to use a territorial geo information system (GIS) [14][15][16], which will make it possible to make a timely and accurate forecast of environmental conditions.…”

Consequence assessment of explosions for fuel-air mixtures at hazardous production facilities

“…The relevance of studies of explosions of fuel-air mixtures is due to the significant risk of accidents associated with them and the need to predict the extent of possible dangerous consequences when designing hazardous production facilities and developing additional safety measures [1,6,7,8]. When considering the processes of explosive transformations of fuel assemblies, special attention is paid to possible modes of combustion of an explosive cloud and consideration of factors determining the conditions for the onset of detonation or deflagration with a corresponding speed of flame front propagation [9].…”