4. METHOD OF SOLUTION
The six database files used to store nuclear power plant fire event information, FIRE, DESC, SUM, OPEXPER, OPEXBWR, and EXPERPWR, are accessed by software to display information meeting user-specified criteria or to perform numerical calculations (e.g., to determine the operating experience of a nuclear plant). FIRE contains specific searchable data relating to each of 354 fire events. A keyword concept is used to search each of the 31 separate entries or fields. DESC contains written descriptions of each of the fire events. SUM holds basic plant information for all plants proposed, under construction, in operation, or decommissioned. This includes the initial criticality and commercial operation dates, the physical location of the plant, and its operating capacity. OPEXPER contains date information and data on how various plant locations are shared among units at each of 83 sites. It is used to calculate the operating experience for all three reactor types; BWR, PWR, and HTGR, and for five locations in the plants. OPEXBWR and EXPERPWR are subsets of the OPEXPER file holding information only for BWRs and PWRs, respectively.