MODELING VENTILATION SYSTEM RESPONSE TO FIRE

Fires in facilities containing nuclear material have the potential to transport radioactive contamination throughout buildings and may lead to widespread downwind dispersal threatening both worker and public safety. Development and implementation of control strategies capable of providing adequate protection from fire requires realistic characterization of ventilation system response which, in turn, depends on an understanding of fire development timing and suppression system response. This paper discusses work in which published HEPA filter data was combined with CFAST fire modeling predictions to evaluate protective control strategies for a hypothetical DOE non-reactor nuclear facility. The purpose of this effort was to evaluate when safety significant active ventilation coupled with safety class passive ventilation might be a viable control strategy