Seismische Resilienz von Krankenhäusern

The evaluation of the seismic resilience involves many different fields and therefore requires a multidisciplinary approach. Nowadays most research in this field regards hospital buildings: this is due to the fact that hospitals play a strategic role in the management of the post-earthquake scenario. One parameter has been used, i.e. the patients’ waiting time, which is an objective and significant quantity, compatible with all the investigated aspects, and associated with the functionality of the system. The works suggests a new methodology, which is based on fragility analyses, and adopts several tools. In particular, the use of fragility curves allows to compare non-homogeneous information concerning structural and non-structural components; the waiting time, chosen as the functionality measure of the system, is measured by simulating the effects of different organizational model settings (thanks to a Discrete Event Simulation – DES – model). Three analytical models (meta-models) are built and implemented to represent all possible cases that arise by applying the methodology, in order to capture the waiting time for the patients in critical conditions. New fragility curves have been found for the hospital structure under investigation and for some of its non-structural components. A great deal of effort has been put on the correlation of all the required information, such as the statistical evaluation of organizational aspects associated with the case-study under different scenarios, the effects of physical results on the organizational setup, the correlated functionality curve variation, and the final multiple cases of resilience assessment. The main contribution of this study is the research framework, which combines the main aspects to be considered in a unique multidisciplinary methodology able to account for all the parameters involved in evaluating the seismic resilience of healthcare facilities. Given the lack of comprehensive knowledge concerning this applicative field, another merit of this work is that of contributing to increase the scientific interest in this area, to highlight its potentiality and to prompt further studies.Die Evaluation der seismischen Resilienz umfasst diverse Forschungsfelder und erfordert dementsprechend einen multidisziplinären Arbeitsansatz. Das Hauptaugenmerk der Forschung liegt aktuell auf Krankenhäusern, da diese eine strategische Rolle im Management des Post-Erdbeben Szenarios einnehmen. Die Patientenwartezeit ist ein Parameter, der zum einen als Zielvorgabe dient, zum anderen ein Maß für die Funktionalität des Systems darstellt. Basierend auf der Fragilitätsanalyse wird eine neue Methodik präsentiert, wobei einige der bereits vorhandenen Methoden übernommen wurden. Fragilitätskurven erlauben den Vergleich zwischen nicht-homogener Information über die tragenden und nicht-tragenden baulichen Komponenten. Die Auswirkungen verschiedener Organisationsmodelle auf die Patientenwartezeit wurde durch eine Discrete Events Simulation (DES) simuliert. Die entwickelte Methodik wurde in einer Fallstudie angewendet: Untersucht wurden die Räume der Notfallaufnahme eines Krankenhauses in der Toskana, welches ein integraler Bestandteil der toskanischen Gesundheitssystems ist. Dabei wurde die Erdbebenresilienz der Notaufnahme für eine Patientenkategorie, die so genannten „yellow codes“, evaluiert. Drei Analysemodelle wurden erstellt und implementiert um die Wartezeit von Patienten in kritischem Zustand für alle denkbaren Fälle zu erfassen. Neuen Fragilitätskurven für das Krankenhausbauwerk und die nicht-tragenden Elemente erstellt. Die Zusammenhänge zwischen den verschiedenen Aspekten wurde intensiv untersucht; so wurde die Information über organisatorischen Aspekte der Fallstudie in Verschiedenen Szenarien statistisch ausgewertet, die Auswirkungen baulicher Veränderung auf den organisatorischen Ablauf und die damit in Beziehung stehende Variaton der Funktionalitätskurve wurden ermittelt und schlussendlich mehrere Einschätzungen der Resilienz durchgeführt. Das grundlegende Ergebnis dieser Arbeit ist ein Konzept, welches alle Hauptaspekte in einer einzelnen multidisziplinären Methodik vereint, die alle Parameter innerhalb der Evaluation der seismischen Resilienz der Gesundheitseinrichtungen einschließt. Ein weiterer Beitrag der vorliegenden Studie ist das Aufzeigen grundlegender Wissensmängel in diesem wichtigen Anwendungsgebiet: In dieser Hinsicht ist eines der Ziele dieser Arbeit, das Interesse in diesem Feld zu erhöhen und weitere Entwicklungen und Forschung anzuregen

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory in M\'exico: The Primary Detector

The High-Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) observatory is a second-generation continuously operated, wide field-of-view, TeV gamma-ray observatory. The HAWC observatory and its analysis techniques build on experience of the Milagro experiment in using ground-based water Cherenkov detectors for gamma-ray astronomy. HAWC is located on the Sierra Negra volcano in M\'exico at an elevation of 4100 meters above sea level. The completed HAWC observatory principal detector (HAWC) consists of 300 closely spaced water Cherenkov detectors, each equipped with four photomultiplier tubes to provide timing and charge information to reconstruct the extensive air shower energy and arrival direction. The HAWC observatory has been optimized to observe transient and steady emission from sources of gamma rays within an energy range from several hundred GeV to several hundred TeV. However, most of the air showers detected are initiated by cosmic rays, allowing studies of cosmic rays also to be performed. This paper describes the characteristics of the HAWC main array and its hardware.Comment: Accepted for publications in Nuclear Inst. and Methods in Physics Research, A (2023) 168253 ( https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168900223002437 ); 39 pages, 14 Figure

Plutonium working group report on environmental, safety and health vulnerabilities associated with the department`s plutonium storage. Volume II, Appendix B, Part 9: Oak Ridge site site team report

This report provides the input to and results of the Department of Energy (DOE) - Oak Ridge Operations (ORO) DOE Plutonium Environment, Safety and Health (ES & H) Vulnerability Assessment (VA) self-assessment performed by the Site Assessment Team (SAT) for the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL or X-10) and the Oak Ridge Y-12 Plant (Y-12) sites that are managed by Martin Marietta Energy Systems, Inc. (MMES). As initiated (March 15, 1994) by the Secretary of Energy, the objective of the VA is to identify and rank-order DOE-ES&H vulnerabilities associated for the purpose of decision making on the interim safe management and ultimate disposition of fissile materials. This assessment is directed at plutonium and other co-located transuranics in various forms

Elements of nuclear safety – Research reactors

This publication gives a global overview of the diversity and complementarity of research reactors, some of which have been or are still being used to conduct experiments that are essential for the development and operation of nuclear power reactors, including in relation to safety issues. This work highlights the many uses of these reactors, which have very different designs, use highly varied quantities of radioactive substances with varying levels of risk for safety and radiation protection, and which — in many cases because they are old or have been shut down — require appropriate measures to control the ageing or obsolescence of some of their equipment, as well as, on an organisational and human level, to ensure that they continue to be operated safely. For some research reactors, safety and radiation protection aspects must be considered, taking into account that two types of operators are present at the same time within these reactors: reactor operating personnel and operators in charge of experimental devices using neutrons from the reactor for fundamental or applied research purposes. There are two specific chapters on the safety standards established under the aegis of the IAEA for research reactors and on serious accidents, notably those involving criticality and reactivity, in research reactors. The second part of the work focuses on French research reactors, including the regulations and official documents applicable to these reactors, on lessons learned in France from significant events and accidents — as well as abroad, such as the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in 2011 — on the consideration of reactivity accidents in the design of French research reactors, and on the ten-yearly safety reviews carried out in France

Application of the technology neutral framework to sodium cooled fast reactors

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Nuclear Science and Engineering, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 115-116).Sodium cooled fast reactors (SFRs) are considered as a novel example to exercise the Technology Neutral Framework (TNF) proposed in NUREG- 1860. One reason for considering SFRs is that they have historically had a licensing problem due to postulated core disruptive accidents. Two SFR designs are considered, and both meet the goals of the TNF that LWRs typically would not. Considering these goals have been met, a method for improving economics is proposed where systems of low risk-importance are identified as candidates for removal, simplification, or removal from safety grade. Seismic risk dominates these designs and is found to be a limiting factor when applying the TNF. The contributions of this thesis are the following: 1. Functional event trees are developed as a tool to allow different designs to be compared on an equal basis. Functional event trees are useful within the TNF as a method for the selection of Licensing Basis Events (LBEs) which take the place of traditional Design Basis Accidents. 2. A new importance measure, Limit Exceedance Factor (LEF), is introduced that measures the margin in system failure probability. It can be used directly with the TNF where standard importance measures cannot. It also reveals that some systems that appear to be of high risk-importance with standard importance measures may have significant margin. 3. The seismic risk dominates these designs. It is shown that even under optimistic assumptions, the goals of the TNF cannot be met by a typical reactor. The effect of seismic isolation to reduce the frequency of seismically initiated large releases is also analyzed and found to be insufficient to reach the goals of the TNF. A limit on initiating event frequency that is consistent with current practices is proposed.by Brian C. Johnson.Ph.D

New Perspectives in the Definition/Evaluation of Seismic Hazard through Analysis of the Environmental Effects Induced by Earthquakes

The devastating effects caused by the recent catastrophic earthquakes that took place all over the world from Japan, New Zealand, to Chile, as well as those occurring in the Mediterranean basin, have once again shown that ground motion, although a serious source of direct damage, is not the only parameter to be considered, with most damage being the result of coseismic geological effects that are directly connected to the earthquake source or caused by ground shaking. The primary environmental effects induced by earthquakes as well as the secondary effects (sensu Environmental Seismic Intensity - ESI 2007 scale) must be considered for a more correct and complete evaluation of seismic hazards, at both regional and local scales. This Special Issue aims to collect all contributions that, using different methodologies, integrate new data produced with multi-disciplinary and innovative methods. These methodologies are essential for the identification and characterization of seismically active areas, and for the development of new hazard models, obtained using different survey techniques. The topic attracted a lot of interest, 19 peer-reviewed articles were collected; moreover, different areas of the world have been analyzed through these methodologies: Italy, USA, Spain, Australia, Ecuador, Guatemala, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Russia, China, Japan, and Nepal

Shaking Heritage

Any moment the earth can shake, but we do not know when or where. If it happens, our Heritage might be in danger. Shaking Heritage addresses the topic of the seismic vulnerability of museum collections. It develops a way to assess the seismic risks for movable Heritage, proposing a synthetic method to rate the vulnerable settings. It discusses the necessity of integrating museography and anti-seismic solutions for museums and exhibitions, and studies exhibit solutions that would improve the seismic safety of collections and setups. It stresses the necessity of constructing shared guidelines and policies for the safety of the movable Heritage. Shaking Heritage is a step forward in acknowledging the importance of the anti-seismic culture among museum institutions and researchers

Mod-5A Wind Turbine Generator Program Design Report. Volume 4: Drawings and Specifications, Book 1

The design, development and analysis of the 7.3 MW MOD-5A wind turbine generator is documented. Volume 4 contains the drawings and specifications that were developed in preparation for building the MOD-5A wind turbine generator. This is the first of five books of volume four. It contains structural design criteria, generator step-up transformer specs, specs for design, fabrication and testing of the system, specs for the ground control enclosure, systems specs, slip ring specs, and control system specs