FIRE PROTECTION FOR NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
TRAINING
The unique hazards associated with nuclear power plants demand special training. One utility company maintains its own full-time fire department. For others, a course can give hands-on experience in dealing with the added risks of radiation and contamination.
The need for in-depth nuclear fire protection has been a recent development in the industry. The Brown’s Ferry fire incident in Athens, Ala., brought to light the need for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to require extensive fire protection regulations.
The Nine Mile Point Station, on the shore of Lake Ontario, is similar to any other boiling water nuclear reactor station, except for its 25-man fire department. Until the fire department was established, the NRC-required fire brigade consisted of reactor operators, security guards and various other employees. This collage of fire brigade members still exists in other power plants today.
The fire department is headed by Robert L Raymond, supervisor of fire protection. Five members are assigned to a shift. The shifts are eight hours long with two shifts on duty during day hours (08001600 hours), averaging to a 40hour work week. The additional day shift attends required training sessions as well as beefing up manpower to handle heavy daytime work loads.
Assigned to each shift is a nuclear fire chief and four nuclear fire fighters. A licensed Class E operator works with the shift chief at incidents involving plant operations. In addition to attending the training programs, department members perform routine fire prevention inspections, provide necessary fire watches, and check and test fire
In response to the increasing number of nuclear reactors strung across the nation, the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) of the Texas A&M University System, offers a course geared toward fighting fires at nuclear sites.
As one of many courses offered by the Fire Protection Training Division of TEEX, the nuclear fire fighting course trains nuclear reactor operators, fire brigade members at nuclear reactor sites and fire department personnel in communities near these sites to respond to and extinguish fires involving a nuclear reactor facility.
This type of training follows guidelines handed down by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). “As industry has Occupational Health and Safety Act guidelines to follow, the nuclear industry must adhere to rules established by Title 10, Appendix R in the Code of Federal Regulations,” explained David Cox, assistant training specialist. This course fulfills NRC requirements for safety certification.
The nuclear fire fighting school is a 36-hour, 4’/2-day school divided into two parts. The first part covers: hydrogen fires, use of foam on flammable liquids, fire science, ventilation techniques, rescue techniques, extinguishing systems and extinguisher training, fire control in cable trays, and structural fire fighting.
The second part of the course addresses the nuclear substance itself and includes learning about contamination hazards and contamination control associated with a fire situation.
See Nine Mile Point, page 49
“The main difference between this course and a regular fire fighting course is that the fire fighter needs to take extra steps to protect himself from the radioactive source,” Cox said.
The first day of the course covers basic fire science including properties of flammable liquids, the classes of fire and the best extinguishing methods. On day two, students undergo breathing apparatus training, extinguisher training and extinguishing systems operations.
Day three instruction deals with pressurized gas properties and how to extinguish pressurized gas, structural and cable tray fires.
On the fourth day, students learn how to handle radiation hazards and contamination control. The course culminates with a hands-on training experience in an actual fire with radioactive material released in the vicinity. Students must enter a burning building, rescue a dummy and extinguish a fire while determining the radiation hazards and taking necessary precautions to minimize any exposure.
Herb Deigl, a senior health physicist at Texas A&M University’s nuclear science center, is responsible for teaching the radiation hazards and radioactive contamination control segment of the course. Deigl uses Manganese 56 as the radioactive source released during the demonstration. “Manganese has a half-life of two hours which means that every two hours it is half as strong as it was initially. If used on a Friday, no radioactive source elements will be around on Monday,” Deigl explained.
“Essentially the only things that become contaminated are the clothes and equipment, and the fire fighter can discard these and walk away from a nuclear fire with no danger to himself.”
Deigl said the main objective of his section of the course is to get the fire fighter used to the idea that he can be exposed to a radioactive element without fear of permanent contamination or health hazards. “We mainly want them to know that they can be exposed to radiation and walk away from it,” Deigl said.
Deigl admits there is some apprehension among the fire fighters prior to the exercise. “They’re usually pretty keyed up about being exposed to the material. After all, radioactive material is an unknown element to most people, plus you can’t taste, feel or smell it.”
Deigl credits the regular bunker clothes and breathing apparatus that a fire fighter wears as being the best protection for him. “They have the perfect protective clothes to protect themselves against radioactive contamination, and when they add the respiratory equipment, they can’t inhale or ingest the material. Essentially the only things that become contaminated are the clothes and equipment themselves, and the fire fighter can discard these and walk away from a nuclear fire with no danger to himself,” Deigl said.
The usual procedure is for the fire fighters to discard the clothes and equipment which are then taken away by a health physicist and monitored until safe. I Xiring the course, students are taught how to monitor themselves and their clothing using a dosimeter, a device which reads levels of radiation exposure.
Deigl, a 26-year veteran in the field of nuclear science, notes that a fire fighter or nuclear reactor operator can spend his life around a nuclear site and never have to fight a nuclear fire During his career, however, he has noticed more emphasis on fire training in and around nuclear sites.
“I like the fire training measures now being taken, especially the five-man brigade system.”
The brigade consists of operators and maintenance people with four or five members on duty during the day and one or two at night. Health physicists at the sites are responsible for integrating an emergency plan into the various local entities which would be involved during an emergency situation. In addition to the local fire department, nuclear personnel also work with the local hospital in establishing emergency procedures.
The teaching team of Deigl and Cox is complemented by three additional instructors. Class size ranges anywhere between 10 and 20 students. “We usually have two or more companies send their personnel at the same time. We will schedule a special class if there are enough employees to warrant it,” Cox said.
For more information, contact David Cox, Fire Protection Training Division, Texas Engineering Extension Service, FE-Drawer K, College Station, Texas 77643. Telephone: 713-845-1152.
