Ignition of electrical components contained in a closed enclosure adjacent to a controlled fire source

Pascal Zavaleta (1) , Olivier Bouygues (1) , Céline Lapuerta (2)

1 IRSN/PSN-RES/SA2I/LEF - Laboratoire d'Expérimentation des Feux
2 IRSN/PSN-RES/SA2I/BEXIE - Bureau d'EXpertise en Incendie et Explosion

About 400 fire events occurred in OECD nuclear power plants (NPPs) between 1975 and 2010 (OECD FIRE database). About 50 fire events involved electrical cabinets which are commonly arranged in rows of adjacent cabinets in NPPs. The ability of a cabinet fire to spread to adjacent cabinets is a major concern for fire safety in NPPs. How can ignition occur in the adjacent cabinets? What is the impact on ignition of the electrical component type contained in the cabinet? What are the effects on ignition of the air gap (between the cabinets) and the cabinet ventilation mode.

Domaines: Physique [physics]

Pascal Zavaleta, Olivier Bouygues, Céline Lapuerta. Ignition of electrical components contained in a closed enclosure adjacent to a controlled fire source. INTERFLAM 2019 - 15th International conference on fire science and enginering, Jul 2019, Londres, United Kingdom. . ⟨irsn-04068988⟩