Chapter 1. Inroduction

DOE-STD-1020-2002

Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1

Overview of DOE Natural Phenomena Hazards Order,

Standards, and Guidance

It is the policy of the Department of Energy (DOE) to design, construct, and operate DOE

facilities so that workers, the general public, and the environment are protected from the impacts

of natural phenomena hazards on DOE facilities. NPH safety requirements are briefly described

in 10 CFR Part 830, Nuclear Safety Management, (Ref.1-13) and DOE O 420.1,"Facility Safety"

(Ref.1-1). The associated Guides,"Guide for the Mitigation of Natural Phenomena Hazards for

DOE Nuclear Facilities and Non-nuclear Facilities" (Ref. 1-2), "Guide for Nonreactor Nuclear

Safety Design Criteria and Explosives Safety Criteria" (Ref. 1-3), and "Implementation Guide

for use with DOE Orders 420.1 and 440.1 Fire Safety Program" (Ref. 1-4) describe acceptable

methods to meet these requirements in a consistent manner throughout DOE which include: (1)

providing safe work place; (2) protecting against property loss and damage; (3) maintaining

operation of essential facilities; and (4) protecting against exposure to hazardous materials

during and after occurrences of natural phenomena hazards. There is an established hierarchy in

the set of documents that specify NPH requirements. In this hierarchy,10 CFR Part 830 is the

highest authority (for Nuclear Facilities only), followed by DOE 0 420.1. The next set of

controlling documents are the associated Guides followed by the set of NPH standards (DOE-

STDS-1020-1023). The NPH requirements have been developed to provide the necessary

information that assess the NPH safety basis for DOE facilities, which is documented in Safety

Analysis Reports (SARs), if available. 10 CFR Part 830 (Ref. 1-13), DOE O 5480.23 (Ref. 1-5)

and the guidance provided in the associated Standard, DOE-STD-3009-94 (Ref. 1-6) prescribe

the use of a graded approach for the effort to be expended in safety analysis and the level of

detail required to be presented in the associated documentation. DOE NPH mitigation

requirements are also consistent with the National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program

(NEHRP) and Executive Order 12699 (Ref. 1-7) and 12941 (Ref. 1-8).

The overall approach for NPH mitigation is consistent with the graded approach

embodied in the facility SAR. The application of NPH design requirements to structures,

systems, and components (SSCs) is based on the life-safety or the safety classifications for the

SSCs as established by safety analysis. The application of the most rigorous design

requirements should be limited to those SSCs classified by safety analysis as Safety-Class or

Safety-Significant consistent with DOE-STD-3009-94. Although DOE-STD-3009-94 is

specifically applicable to non-reactor nuclear facilities, it is DOE's intention to apply DOE-STD-

3009-94 definitions for "Safety-Class" and "Safety-Significant" to all nuclear non-reactor and

other hazardous facilities, and this broader approach is applied here. Mission importance and

economic considerations should also be used to categorize SSCs which require NPH design.

Once the SSCs have been classified, DOE O 420.1 and the associated Guides specify the NPH

requirements to ensure that the SSCs are adequately designed to resist NPH. The NPH

requirements utilize a graded approach in order to provide a reasonable level of NPH protection

for the wide variety of DOE facilities. A graded approach is one in which various levels of NPH

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