Other Design Considerations

DOE-HDBK-1129-99

Structural Systems

Unreinforced masonry construction

Non-ductile concrete construction

"Soft" story construction

Incomplete lateral force resisting systems

Welded steel connections

Irregularities, eccentricities, and discontinuities in both weight and geometry

Pounding or impact with nearby facilities

Details

Inadequate hoop reinforcement in concrete columns

Reinforcing steel connections

Connection details

Accommodation of differential motion

Ensure foundation adequacy by avoiding the following:

Ground failures

Landslides

Liquefaction

Excessive or differential settlement

Ensure that lifelines are not damaged.

Provide flexibility in lifeline connections to the facility.

Identify important lifeline functions such as power, water, sewer, gas, and

communications that will be needed immediately after an earthquake or windstorm.

Examine the vulnerability of lifelines onsite as well as offsite.

Plan for alternative lifeline support.

Examine and prepare for the possibility of a fire following the earthquake.

Employing mitigation efforts before earthquakes or windstorms occur is a very cost-effective

means to provide life safety, to minimize damage and losses, and to reduce the impact on the

facility and operations. It is extremely important to pay attention to all details because natural

phenomena will find the weak links and cause damage.

4.5 Other Design Considerations

The following items should be considered in the design of a facility with tritium operations.

Designated safety-class systems should employ the concepts of redundancy, separation, and

diversity. Some designs in the past, notably at Building 233-H at SRS (i.e., RTF), employed

redundant signals to a single actuation device. An improvement to this design concept would

be to provide these redundant signals to two independent, separate (by distance) actuation

devices.

A design requirement should be included to prevent the formation of explosive mixtures during

the handling, processing, and storage of tritium gas and other hydrogen isotopes.