Nuclear Power Plant Fire Modeling Analysis Guidelines (NPP FIRE MAG) — Final Report (NUREG-1934, EPRI 1023259)

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• Publication Information
• Abstract

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• NUREG-1934 (PDF - 23.85 MB)
• This report also contains a CD with the input files and fire model programs. Please send an email to David Stroup (David.stroup@nrc.gov) with your address and he will mail you a CD through the US Postal service.

Publication Information

Final Report:  November 2012

U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research (RES)
Washington, DC 20555-0001

U.S. NRC-RES Project Manager
M.H. Salley

Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI)
3412 Hillview Avenue
Palo Alto, CA 94303

EPRI Project Manager
R. Wachowiak

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Abstract

There is a movement to introduce risk-informed and performance-based (RI/PB) analyses into fire protection engineering practice, both domestically and worldwide. This movement exists in both the general fire protection and the nuclear power plant (NPP) fire protection communities. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has used risk-informed insights as a part of its regulatory decision making since the 1990s.

In 2001, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) issued NFPA 805, Performance-Based Standard for Fire Protection for Light-Water Reactor Electric Generating Plants, 2001 Edition. In July 2004, the NRC amended its fire protection requirements in Title 10, Section 50.48 of the Code of Federal Regulations (10 CFR 50.48) to permit existing reactor licensees to voluntarily adopt fire protection requirements contained in NFPA 805 as an alternative to the existing deterministic fire protection requirements. In addition, the NPP fire protection community has been using RI/PB approaches and insights to support fire hazard analysis in general.

One key element in RI/PB fire protection is the availability of verified and validated (V&V) fire models that can reliably estimate the effects of fires. The U.S. NRC, together with the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), conducted a research project to verify and validate five fire models that have been used for NPP applications. The results of this effort are documented in a seven-volume NUREG report, NUREG-1824 (EPRI 1011999), Verification & Validation of Selected Fire Models for Nuclear Power Plant Applications.

This report describes the implications of the V&V results for fire model users. The features and limitations of the five fire models documented in NUREG-1824 (EPRI 1011999) are discussed relative to NPP fire hazard analysis (FHA). Finally, the report provides information on the use of fire models in support of various commercial NPP fire hazard analysis applications.