• Fire Science and Engineering
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.38-44
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• 2012

The purpose of fire protection for the nuclear power plants (NPPs) is to ensure safe shutdown state of the reactor, to minimize the release of radioactive materials to the environment, to provide physical safety of the on-site personnel, and to limit the property damage. Fire protection and extinguishing equipments are one of the important protection measures based on the defense-in-depth concept, which can promptly detect and control and extinguish those fires that do occur, thereby limiting fire damage. However, a separate evaluation process might be additionally necessary for the construction permit and operating license because the fire protection laws of the NEMA for installation standards of the fire protection systems is not fully characterized for the NPPs. It is also not easy to implement the regulations such as the performance based design concept for fire protection system of the NPPs which are characterized for a relatively low density of employee. This study suggests a guideline for the improvement of the technical standards for fire protection systems of the NPPs by evaluating the fundamental problems drawn by reviewing laws and regulatory guides relevant to fire protection and by evaluating the applicability of the KEPIC FPN in domestic nuclear power plants.