A Methodology for Analyzing the Detection and Suppression of Fires in Nuclear Power Plants

The assessment of the fire risk in nuclear power plants requires the analysis of fire scenarios within specified rooms. A methodology that integrates the fire protection features of a given room into an existing fire risk analysis framework is developed. An important component of this methodology is a model for the time required to detect and suppress a fire in a given room, called the “hazard time.” This model accounts for the reliability of fire detection and suppression equipment, as well as for the characteristic rates of the detection and suppression processes. Because the available evidence for fire detection and suppression in nuclear power plants is sparse and often qualitative, a second component of this methodology is a set of methods needed to employ imprecise information in a statistical analysis. These methods can be applied to a wide variety of problems.