Detailed information on fire events having occurred at nuclear power reactors in operation and decommissioning from fourteen NEA member countries is collected in the international fire events database FIRE (Fire Incidents Records Exchange) as one of three databases on operational events in nuclear power plants (NPPs) and research reactors currently operated under the auspices of the OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA). This database is meanwhile mature enough for several applications in probabilistic fire risk assessment (Fire PSA). The actual version of this database covers more than 660 quality assured and widely well documented fire events from nuclear powers reactors during the entire plant life cycle from construction to decommissioning. Already mature possibilities for application of data from the database within Fire PSA are generic component or room type specific fire occurrence frequencies as prior information and data supporting the fire event tree analyses, particularly on fire detection and suppression success data.
Insights from past activities with significance for Fire PSA, regarding e.g. event combinations of fires and other anticipated external and/ internal hazards, or fires induced by high energy arcing faults (HEAFs) have contributed to national and international PSA related safety standards, such as the recent IAEA Safety Guides for Level 1 and Level 2 PSA SSG-3 (Rev. 1) and SSG-4 (Rev. 1).
Most recently, one future action to countries having participated in the European ENREG Topical Peer Review on “Fire Protection” is to extend the sharing of the operating experience and the corresponding feedback internationally, e.g. via the FIRE Database, covering not only power reactors but also research, demonstration and other first-of-a-kind reactors. In a further step, the fire protection related operating experience from non-reactor nuclear installations shall also be shared.
This paper provides an overview of applications and applicability of the data collected in the FIRE Database for risk analysis, selected application examples and an outlook on the already planned Database extension.