Determination of controlling earthquakes from probabilistic seismic hazard analysis for nuclear reactor sites

Recently, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission published, for public comments, a revision to 10 CFR Part 100. The proposed regulation acknowledges that uncertainties are inherent in estimates of the Safe Shutdown Earthquake Ground Motion (SSE) and requires that these uncertainties be addressed through an appropriate analysis. One element of this evaluation is the assessment of the controlling earthquake through the probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) and its use in determining the SSE. This paper reviews the basis for the various key choices in characterizing the controlling earthquake