Fire When NOT Ready

The report examines the high risk of reactor core meltdown due to fire hazards and the NRC's failure to enforce safety regulations. It details the 1975 Browns Ferry fire, the subsequent failure of fire barrier materials like Thermo-Lag and Hemyc, and the problematic reliance on unapproved manual operator actions as a substitute for physical safety barriers. Using the Shearon Harris plant as a case study, the document asserts that the NRC has allowed plants to operate in violation of safety laws for decades through excessive 'enforcement discretion'.

• The NRC estimates that fire hazards account for approximately 50% of the total reactor meltdown risk at operating reactors, a figure that assumes plants are in full compliance with fire protection regulations.
• The 1975 fire at the Browns Ferry nuclear plant in Alabama demonstrated that a lack of adequate cable separation could disable all emergency core cooling systems, leading the NRC to adopt prescriptive fire protection regulations in May 1980.
• There has been a widespread industry practice of substituting 'operator manual actions' for required physical fire barriers without NRC review or approval, which increases risk due to the potential for human error under critical time constraints and hazardous conditions.
• The Shearon Harris nuclear plant in North Carolina has operated in violation of fire protection regulations for over 16 years, relying on ineffective fire barriers and unapproved manual actions while receiving repeated extensions of 'enforcement discretion' from the NRC.
• The NRC has a history of ignoring evidence regarding the failure of fire barrier materials; for example, it waited seven years to act after 1993 tests showed Hemyc fire barriers failed in less than 30 minutes despite a 1-hour rating.
• The report contends that the NRC's oversight is inadequate, noting that the Commission has held only one meeting on fire protection in five years, while focusing extensively on Equal Employment Opportunity.

APA

Gunter, P., Warren, J., & Lochbaum, D. (2008). Fire When NOT Ready. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Fire-When-Not-Ready.pdf

Chicago

Gunter, Paul, Jim Warren, and Dave Lochbaum. Fire When NOT Ready. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2008. https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Fire-When-Not-Ready.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Gunter |first1=Paul |last2=Warren |first2=Jim |last3=Lochbaum |first3=Dave |title=Fire When NOT Ready |publisher=Union of Concerned Scientists |date=October 2008 |url=https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Fire-When-Not-Ready.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{gunter2008fire, author = {Gunter, Paul and Warren, Jim and Lochbaum, Dave}, title = {{Fire When NOT Ready}}, institution = {Union of Concerned Scientists}, year = {2008}, month = oct, url = {https://www.ucs.org/sites/default/files/2019-09/Fire-When-Not-Ready.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }