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Title: Verification study of an emerging fire suppression system

Journal Article · · Journal of Chemical Health and Safety

Self-contained fire extinguishers are a robust, reliable and minimally invasive means of fire suppression for gloveboxes. Moreover, plutonium gloveboxes present harsh environmental conditions for polymer materials; these include radiation damage and chemical exposure, both of which tend to degrade the lifetime of engineered polymer components. Several studies have been conducted to determine the robustness of selfcontained fire extinguishers in plutonium gloveboxes in a nuclear facility, verification tests must be performed. These tests include activation and mass loss calorimeter tests. In addition, compatibility issues with chemical components of the self-contained fire extinguishers need to be addressed. Our study presents activation and mass loss calorimeter test results. After extensive studies, no critical areas of concern have been identified for the plutonium glovebox application of Fire Foe™, except for glovebox operations that use large quantities of bulk plutonium or uranium metal such as metal casting and pyro-chemistry operations.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1249060
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1410748
Report Number(s):
LA-UR-15-29624; PII: S1871553215001486
Journal Information:
Journal of Chemical Health and Safety, Journal Name: Journal of Chemical Health and Safety; ISSN 1871-5532
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (7)

Variation of Burnable Neutron Absorbers in a Heavy Water–Moderated Fuel Lattice: A Potential to Improve CANDU Reactor Operating Margins journal July 2015
Reliability study of an emerging fire suppression system journal November 2015
Glovebox issues: Controlling fire hazards after an earthquake journal November 2012
Rainbows and tornados journal November 2014
Physio-chemical degradation of thermally aged hypalon glove samples journal June 2004
What the TSA can teach us about chemical safety journal July 2014
The Chemistry of the Actinide and Transactinide Elements book January 2006

Cited By (1)

SmartFire: Intelligent Platform for Monitoring Fire Extinguishers and Their Building Environment journal May 2019

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