FIRE Project Report: “Collection and Analysis of Fire Events (2002-2008) – First Applications and Expected Further Developments”

In 2000, the Committee on the Safety of Nuclear Installations (CSNI) approved the establishment of a Fire Incident Records Exchange Project on collection of data on fire events at nuclear power plants. This project was finally established in 2002. The objectives of the project were to:

• collect fire event experience (by international exchange) in an appropriate format in a qualityassured and consistent database (the “OECD-FIRE database”);
• collect and analyse fire events over the long term so as to better understand such events and their causes, and to encourage their prevention;
• generate qualitative insights into the root causes of fire events in order to derive approaches or mechanisms for their prevention and to mitigate their consequences;
• establish a mechanism for efficient operation feedback on fire event experience including the development of policies of prevention, such as indicators for risk- informed and performancebased inspections;
• record characteristics of fire events in order to facilitate fire risk analysis, including quantification of fire frequencies.

After more than six years of event data collection (343 events at the date of the publication of this report) it was possible to derive relevant information for fire safety analysis, which is presented in this report.