Fire Training for Nuclear Power Plants
A course in fire protection training for nuclear power plant personnel is the newest course to be added to the curriculum of the Fire Protection Training Division of the Texas Engineering Extension Service at Texas A&M University at College Station.
The five-day course was developed by the Fire Training Division with the assistance of engineers and health physicists at the Texas A&M University Nuclear Science Center, which has a research nuclear reactor.
The course, which includes hands-on fire fighting training, starts with discussions of the chemistry of fire, classification of fires, principles of extinguishment and fire prevention and inspection. In the afternoon, the students learn how to use breathing apparatus and test their knowledge by wearing breathing apparatus in going through a smoke-filled maze several times. Discussions and demonstrations of sprinkler systems complete the first day.
The first two sessions on the following day deal with the various types of portable extinguishers as well as halon, carbon dioxide and dry chemical extinguishing systems. The third session covers industrial fire hose, nozzles and water systems, and concludes with a practical exercise on LPG fires.
Structural fire fighting
On the third day, the students get some experience fighting multilevel structural fires while wearing breathing apparatus. They then study the problems of hazardous materials in closed containers and move on to fighting oil pit, elevated spill and pump flange fires.
Instruction of the characteristics and effectiveness of industrial foams starts off the fourth day. Fighting Class B fires with foam gives the students an opportunity to use the techniques they have learned in the classroom. Later that day, they fight cable-tray fires simulated by burning rubber strips coated with diesel fuel. Ways of detecting and measuring radiation and controlling contamination are discussed before the students participate in practical exercises in identifying radiation sources with meters and preventing the spread of contamination.
On the fifth day, student brigade teams fight interior fires in an area contaminated with a short-lived radio-isotope. This session is actually a practical final exam, and the students use all the information they have acquired in the previous four days. The students then take a written exam and fill out a critique sheet.
The class is limited to 18 individuals. This allows a reasonable cost per student while maintaining a good student-to-instructor ratio.
The course curriculum is flexible to accommodate individual utility company requirements.
Course being improved
Based upon feedback, several areas are being improved. The cable tray fire simulation will be expanded to include multilevels, long vertical sections, and possibly dust covers. Interior class B fires will be stressed more heavily, including switchgear and transformers with flammable fluids, and an energized grid is planned for demonstrations.
In future sessions, command and evaluation will be stressed more heavily, as well as communication between the brigade and the rest of the plant during emergency situations.
A separate course directed at brigade leaders is being planned to teach fire brigade command.
