DOE: Aging Equipment Causing Fire-Related Vulnerabilities at National Labs

Aging fire suppression system equipment leaves the Department of Energy’s (DOE) national nuclear laboratories vulnerable to greater fire-related risks, according to a DOE Office of Enterprise Assessments review released last week. DOE’s nuclear facilities “generally do not have enough inherent energy to release or disperse a significant amount of radiological material,” the report says, but “a fire can provide this energy,” placing at risk “workers, the public, and the environment.” The Aug. 14 review of fire protection programs in facilities at labs including the Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and Y-12 National Security Complex, found that “the most significant vulnerability” at some sites “is the impact of age related degradation on the reliability of equipment that supplies water to nuclear facility fire suppression systems.” Upgrades to the fire suppression water systems at many facilities “have not been comprehensive enough to fully address the vulnerabilities,” the report says, while “at some sites, upgrades have not been initiated or have been deferred.” The report also cites “occurrence data from DOE facilities” showing “many water supply line breaks and leaks within the past few years,” some of which “resulted in performance degradation of safety related fire protection systems and interruption of facility mission.”