Seminar on Fire Protection of Nuclear Power Plants

An international research and practical Seminar on Fire Protection of Nuclear Power Plants was held on 30 June – 04 July, 2014.

The Seminar was organized by the National Nuclear Insurance Pool of the UK due to the decision of the Technical Subcommittee of the International Insurance Pool and was held at the Fire Service College premises, Moreton-in Marsh, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom.

Technical specialists of the National insurance pools, representatives of consulting companies and research institutions, including the University of Leeds, which is one of the largest universities in the UK, attended the Seminar.

Russian Association of Nuclear Insurers was presented by Mr. Sergey Babenko, Technical Director of RANI, Mr.Vladimir Vashchilo, Deputy technical director of RANI and Mr.Anatoly Nikitin, Deputy technical director of RANI.

In the Seminar the attendees reviewed not only current issues of fire safety at industrial facilities, but particularly focused on specific details of fire safety at nuclear facilities:

• fire protection at nuclear power plants
• probabilistic assessments of fire influence on the safe shutdown of nuclear power units
  
• risks of hydrogen explosions 
• risks of damage of the transformer equipment and its destruction with the fire of transformer oil

The participants took part in laboratory classes and practical trainings on firefighting, investigated dynamics of fire break-out and fire development, reviewed fire risks at electric installations.

The Seminar provided the opportunity to exchange opinions and experiences covering the following areas: insurance surveys, justified recommendations for the operating companies, fire protection Guidelines for commercial nuclear power plants currently used within International pooling system and recommendations for its improvement.

Attendees from UK, France, Spain, Czech Republic, Germany, Canada, USA, Russia, China and others highly appreciated the Seminar on Fire Protection of Nuclear Power Plants.

It was noted that such Seminars are required also for discussing a lot of other aspects of insurance surveys during the process of operating and decommissioning of nuclear facilities all over the world.