Abstract: Seismic safety is a challenging issue for high dams in Southwest China. This paper presents a new framework for seismic safety risk assessment of high concrete dams, including four parts of potential life loss, property damage, social impacts, and environment damage. First, four seismic dam damage levels–intact, slight-moderate damage, severe damage, and dam failure–are suggested; then, for each level, the loss of life, economic loss, and social impact, and environmental impact are analyzed. Finally, F-N curves and the ALARP approach are used to assess the seismic risk of dams. Generally, the overall risk of high concrete dams, by different combinations of potential seismic losses, can be divided into four levels: low risk, moderate risk, high risk, and extremely high risk.

Key words: high concrete dam, seismic hazard, seismic fragility, seismic loss, risk assessment