초록
Fire protection for nuclear power plants should be designed according to the concept of "Defense in Depth" to achieve the reactor safety shutdown. This concept focuses on fire prevention, fire suppression and safe shutdown. Fire prevention is the first line of "Defense in Depth" and the licensee should establish administrative measures to minimize the potential for fire to occur. Administrative measures should include procedures to control handling and use of combustibles. Electrical cables is the major contributor of fire loads in nuclear power plants, therefore electrical cables should be fire retardant. Electrical cables installed in nuclear power plants should pass the flame test in IEEE-383 standard in accordance with NUREG-0800, "Standard Review Plan for the Review of Safety Analysis Reports for Nuclear Power Plants". To assure the fire retardant of electrical cables during design life, both aged and unaged cable specimens should be tested in accordance with IEEE-383. It can be generally thought that the flammability of electrical cables has been increased by wearing as time passed, however the results from fire retardant tests performed in U.S.A and Korea indicate the inconsistent tendency of aging and consequential decrease in flammability. In this study, it is expected that the effective methodology for validation of fire retardant performance would be identified through the review of the results from fire retardant tests.
