In our days there is an increased demand for electric power worldwide. Humanity tends to give up with traditional fossil fuel and moves towards cleaner forms of energy. Although natural gas is a fossil fuel, produces fewer greenhouse gases than other fossil fuels and it’s assumed as one of the cleanest widely used sources of energy, particularly compared to other fossil fuels such as oil, coal, etc. Even if, renewable energy sources (mainly solar and wind) used for the production of electricity, electrical energy could also be produced from natural gas-fired combined cycle power plants.
Southeastern Europe and more specifically Greece presents the highest seismicity in Europe. The seismicity derives from geodynamic processes due to the collision and subduction of the African plate underneath the Eurasian plate. This tectonism usually expressed through various types of seismic faults, which are the main source of devastating earthquakes. In the southern part of central continental Greece, near a small village called Thisvi, a natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant will be constructed. The plant has many facilities with various superstructures, while the alignment of a cooling water pipeline ends also inside the plant and his length is more than 3km. In the broader area many seismic faults exist, some of them outcropping, while severe earthquakes with magnitude greater than 6R occurred in the last centuries.
This paper will present very briefly the main earthquake-related geohazards, while the procedure of identification and quantification of the potentially active faults through various studies will be discussed extensively. Afterward, empirical formulas of the literature will be used in order to estimate the expected cumulative offset of the fault displacement and the potential effect on the facilities' foundation as well as to the pipeline’s alignment. Finally, protection measures will be proposed in order to mitigate the ensuing risk.
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