An assessment of fire vulnerability for aged electrical relays

Vigil, R A; Nowlen, S P

doi:10.2172/46674

Title: An assessment of fire vulnerability for aged electrical relays

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Abstract

There has been some concern that, as nuclear power plants age, protective measures taken to control and minimize the impact of fire may become ineffective, or significantly less effective, and hence result in an increased fire risk. One objective of the Fire Vulnerability of Aged Electrical Components Program is to assess the effects of aging and service wear on the fire vulnerability of electrical equipment. An increased fire vulnerability of components may lead to an overall increase in fire risk to the plant. Because of their widespread use in various electrical safety systems, electromechanical relays were chosen to be the initial components for evaluation. This test program assessed the impact of operational and thermal aging on the vulnerability of these relays to fire-induced damage. Only thermal effects of a fire were examined in this test program. The impact of smoke, corrosive materials, or fire suppression effects on relay performance were not addressed in this test program. The purpose of this test program was to assess whether the fire vulnerability of electrical relays increased with aging. The sequence followed for the test program was to: identify specific relay types, develop three fire scenarios, artificially age several relays, test the unaged andmore »« less

Authors:

Vigil, R A ^[1]; Nowlen, S P ^[1]

Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Publication Date:: Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1995

Research Org.:: US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), Washington, DC (United States). Div. of Engineering Technology; Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Washington, DC (United States)

OSTI Identifier:: 46674

Report Number(s):: NUREG/CR-6220; SAND-94-0769
ON: TI95009316; TRN: 95:010960

DOE Contract Number:: AC04-94AL85000

Resource Type:: Technical Report

Resource Relation:: Other Information: PBD: Mar 1995

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 22 NUCLEAR REACTOR TECHNOLOGY; NUCLEAR POWER PLANTS; RELAYS; PERFORMANCE TESTING; AGING; TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K

Citation Formats


                    Vigil, R A, Science and Engineering Associates, Inc., Albuquerque, NM, and Nowlen, S P. An assessment of fire vulnerability for aged electrical relays.  United States: N. p., 1995. 
        Web.  doi:10.2172/46674.

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                    Vigil, R A, Science and Engineering Associates, Inc., Albuquerque, NM, & Nowlen, S P. An assessment of fire vulnerability for aged electrical relays.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/46674

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                    Vigil, R A, Science and Engineering Associates, Inc., Albuquerque, NM, and Nowlen, S P. 1995.  
        "An assessment of fire vulnerability for aged electrical relays".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.2172/46674.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/46674.

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@article{osti_46674,

  title        = {An assessment of fire vulnerability for aged electrical relays},

  author       = {Vigil, R A and Science and Engineering Associates, Inc., Albuquerque, NM and Nowlen, S P},

  abstractNote = {There has been some concern that, as nuclear power plants age, protective measures taken to control and minimize the impact of fire may become ineffective, or significantly less effective, and hence result in an increased fire risk. One objective of the Fire Vulnerability of Aged Electrical Components Program is to assess the effects of aging and service wear on the fire vulnerability of electrical equipment. An increased fire vulnerability of components may lead to an overall increase in fire risk to the plant. Because of their widespread use in various electrical safety systems, electromechanical relays were chosen to be the initial components for evaluation. This test program assessed the impact of operational and thermal aging on the vulnerability of these relays to fire-induced damage. Only thermal effects of a fire were examined in this test program. The impact of smoke, corrosive materials, or fire suppression effects on relay performance were not addressed in this test program. The purpose of this test program was to assess whether the fire vulnerability of electrical relays increased with aging. The sequence followed for the test program was to: identify specific relay types, develop three fire scenarios, artificially age several relays, test the unaged and aged relays in the fire exposure scenarios, and compare the results. The relays tested were Agastat GPI, General Electric (GE) HMA, HGA, and HFA. At least two relays of each type were artificially aged and at least two relays of each type were new. Relays were operationally aged by cycling the relay under rated load for 2,000 operations. These relays were then thermally aged for 60 days with their coil energized.},

  doi          = {10.2172/46674},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/46674},
  journal      = {},
number       = ,

  volume       = ,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1995},

  month        = {Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1995}

}

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