Performance-Based Standard for Fire Protection for Light Water Reactor Electric Generating Plants - Effective Date: 11/24/2019

Abstract

This standard specifies the minimum fire protection requirements for existing light water nuclear power plants during all phases of plant operation, including shutdown, degraded conditions, and decommissioning.

Purpose.

Protecting the safety of the public, the environment, and plant personnel from a plant fire and its potential effect on safe reactor operations is paramount to this standard.

The fire protection standard shall be based on the concept of defense-in-depth.

Defense-in-depth shall be achieved when an adequate balance of each of the following elements is provided:

(1) Preventing fires from starting

(2) Rapidly detecting fires and controlling and extinguishing promptly those fires that do occur, thereby limiting fire damage

(3) Providing an adequate level of fire protection for structures, systems, and components important to safety, so that a fire that is not promptly extinguished will not prevent essential plant safety functions from being performed