Document: NRC Regulatory Guide
Document ID: 80776ca5-a83d-4667-9a94-0bffa1befa91
Document Type: regulatory_guide
Title: Fire Protection Guidelines for Nuclear Power Plants (Rev. 1)
Source: NRC Regulatory Guide Division 1
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1221/ML12216A013.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 
Section ID: RG-1.120
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
uivalent fire protection. Suitable bases and justification should be provided for alternative approaches to establish acceptable implementation of General Design Criterion 3. This guide addresses fire protection programs for safety-related systems and equipment and for other plant areas containing fire hazards that could adversely affect safety-related systems. It does not give guidance for protecting the life safety of the site personnel or for protection against economic or property loss. This guide supplements Regulatory Guide 1.75, "Physical Independence of Electrical Systems," in determining the fire protection for redundant cable systems. B. DISCUSSION There have been 32 fires in operating U.S. nuclear power plants through December 1975. Of these, the fire on March 22, 1975, at Browns Ferry nuclear plant was the most severe. With approximately 250 operating reactor years of experience, one may infer a frequency on the order of one fire per ten reactor years. Thus, on the average, a nuclear power plant may experience one or more fires of varying severity during its operating life. Although WASH-1400, "Reactor Safety Study - An Assessment of Accident Risks in U.S. Commercial Nuclear Power Plants," dated October 1975, concluded that the Browns Ferry fire did not affect the validity of the overall risk assessment, the staff concluded that cost-effective fire protection measures should be instituted to significantly decrease the frequency and severity of fires and consequently initi- ated the development of this guide. In this development, the staff made use of many national standards and other publications related to fire protection. The documents discussed below were particularly useful. A document entitled "The International Guidelines for the Fire Protection of Nuclear Power Plants," (IGL) 1974 Edition, 2nd Reprint, published on behalf of the National Nuclear Risks Insurance Pools and Association, provides a step-by-step approach to assessing the fire risk in a