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Sample records for valuable glovebox fire

  1. Alternative approach for fire suppression of class A, B and C fires in gloveboxes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rosenberger, Mark S [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Tsiagkouris, James A [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2011-02-10

    Department of Energy (DOE) Orders and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Codes and Standards require fire suppression in gloveboxes. Several potential solutions have been and are currently being considered at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The objective is to provide reliable, minimally invasive, and seismically robust fire suppression capable of extinguishing Class A, B, and C fires; achieve compliance with DOE and NFPA requirements; and provide value-added improvements to fire safety in gloveboxes. This report provides a brief summary of current approaches and also documents the successful fire tests conducted to prove that one approach, specifically Fire Foe{trademark} tubes, is capable of achieving the requirement to provide reliable fire protection in gloveboxes in a cost-effective manner.

  2. Process and device for extinguishing fires inside gloveboxes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lopez, P

    1975-01-09

    The present invention relates to a process of extinguishing all types of fire inside gloveboxes. Said process prevents the inner part of the box to communicate with the room atmosphere: the glove that is the nearest to the hearth of fire is perforated with an edged tip mounted on the outlet of the extinguisher and the product contained inside said extinguisher is released until the fire extinction is achieved. A device for operating said process consists in an edged tubular tip, the end of which is bevelled and in means of dispersion and of connection to an extinguisher at the other end.

  3. Glovebox and Experiment Safety

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maas, Gerard

    2005-12-01

    : the identified failure case and the hazardous substance being released (chemical, biological or different).The principle of the glovebox operation is explained, including: mechanical enclosure, air circulation, air filtration and operational modes.Limitations of the glovebox are presented: inability of an experiment fire to be detected by the ASDA, containment only with respect to specified substances, etc. There are requirements induced by the glovebox that the experiment must comply with: Compatibility with the glovebox filter system, thermal limitations, safe without glovebox services, parameter monitoring when a fire hazard is credible, sufficient containment when entering the glovebox and after the experiment, etc.Experiments that are using a glovebox to be operated in shall assess this integrated set-up and the associated operations for compliance to the safety requirements. During this assessment the PSRP shall determine if the provided failure tolerance is sufficient.The gloveboxes that Bradford Engineering (co-) built for human space flight are: USML-1 and 2, MGBX (STS and MIR), MSG, PGBX, LSG-WVA, BGB and PGB. Some of the evolutions are pointed out (experiment services added without compromising safety levels). The major differences of the gloveboxes are presented. For the gloveboxes that are in operation at this time (MSG) or in the near future (BGB, LSG- WVA and PGB) the specific applications are presented.

  4. Calculation note - Consequences of a fire in the sorting and repackaging glovebox in room 636 of bldg 2736-ZB - Plutonium Finishing Plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    JOHNSON, L.E.

    1999-01-01

    This Calculation Note provides a conservative estimate of the grams of plutonium released from Building 2736-ZB of the Plutonium Finishing Plant as a result of a fire within Glovebox 636, without consideration of mitigation

  5. Inert atmosphere system for plutonium processing gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bogard, C.F.; Calkins, K.W.; Rogers, R.F.

    1975-01-01

    Recent efforts to reduce fire hazards in plutonium processing operations are described. In such operations, the major environmental controls are developed through various kinds of glovebox systems. In evaluating the air-atmosphere glovebox systems, formerly in use at Rocky Flats and many other plants, a decision was made to convert to a recirculating ''inert'' atmosphere. The inert atmosphere consists of nitrogen, supplied from an on-site generating plant, diluting oxygen content to one to 5 percent by volume. Problems encountered during the change over included: determination of all factors influencing air leakage into the system, and reducing leakage to the practical minimum; meeting all fire and safety standards on the filter plenum and exhaust systems; provision for converting portions of the system to an air atmosphere to conduct maintenance work; inclusion of oxygen analyzers throughout the system to check gas quality and monitor for leaks; and the use of automatic controls to protect against a variety of potential malfunctions. The current objectives to reduce fire hazards have been met and additional safeguards were added. The systems are operating satisfactorily. (U.S.)

  6. Design criteria for plutonium gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1981-01-01

    The standard defines criteria for the design of glovebox systems to be used for the handling of plutonium in any form or isotopic composition or when mixed with other elements or compounds. The glovebox system is a series of physical barriers provided with glove ports and gloves, through which process and maintenance operations may be performed, together with an operating ventilation system. The system minimizes the potential for release of radioactive material to the environment, protects operators from contamination, and mitigates the consequences of abnormal condiations. The standard covers confinement, construction, materials, windows, glove ports, gloves, equipment insertion and removal, lighting, ventilation, fire protection, criticality prevention, services and utilities, radiation shielding, waste systems, monitoring and alarm systems, safeguards, quality assurance, and decommissioning

  7. TRU waste characterization chamber gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Duncan, D. S.

    1998-01-01

    Argonne National Laboratory-West (ANL-W) is participating in the Department of Energy's (DOE) National Transuranic Waste Program in support of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). The Laboratory's support currently consists of intrusive characterization of a selected population of drums containing transuranic waste. This characterization is performed in a complex of alpha containment gloveboxes termed the Waste Characterization Gloveboxes. Made up of the Waste Characterization Chamber, Sample Preparation Glovebox, and the Equipment Repair Glovebox, they were designed as a small production characterization facility for support of the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). This paper presents salient features of these gloveboxes

  8. HB-Line Dissolution of Glovebox Floor Sweepings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gray, J.H.

    1998-02-01

    Two candidate flowsheets for dissolving glovebox floor sweepings in the HB-Line Phase I geometrically favorable dissolver have been developed.Dissolving conditions tested and modified during the laboratory program were based on the current processing scheme for dissolving high-fired Pu-238 oxide in HB-Line. Subsequent adjustments made to the HB-Line flowsheet reflected differences in the dissolution behavior between high-fired Pu-238 oxide and the MgO sand/PuF 4 /PuO 2 mixture in glovebox floor sweepings. Although both candidate flowsheets involved two separate dissolving steps and resulted incomplete dissolution of all solids, the one selected for use in HB-Line will require fewer processing operations and resembles the initial flowsheet proposed for dissolving sand, slag, and crucible material in F-Canyon dissolvers. Complete dissolution of glovebox floor sweepings was accomplished in the laboratory by initially dissolving between 55 and 65 degree in a 14 molar nitric acid solution. Under these conditions, partial dissolution of PuF 4 and complete dissolution of PuO 2 and MgO sand were achieved in less than one hour. The presence of free fluoride in solution,uncomplexed by aluminum, was necessary for complete dissolution of the PuO 2 .The remaining PuF 4 dissolved following addition of aluminum nitrate nonahydrate (ANN) to complex the fluoride and heating between 75 and 85 degree C for an additional hour. Precipitation of magnesium and/or aluminum nitrates could occur before, during, and after transfer of product solutions. Both dilution and/or product solution temperature controls may be necessary to prevent precipitation of these salts. Corrosion of the dissolver should not be an issue during these dissolving operations. Corrosion is minimized when dissolving at 55-65 degree C for one to three hours at a maximum uncomplexed free fluoride concentration of 0.07 molar and by dissolving at 75-85 degree C at a one to one aluminum to fluoride mole ratio for another

  9. Glovebox decontamination technology comparison

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Quintana, D.M.; Rodriguez, J.B.; Cournoyer, M.E.

    1999-01-01

    Reconfiguration of the CMR Building and TA-55 Plutonium Facility for mission requirements will require the disposal or recycle of 200--300 gloveboxes or open front hoods. These gloveboxes and open front hoods must be decontaminated to meet discharge limits for Low Level Waste. Gloveboxes and open front hoods at CMR have been painted. One of the deliverables on this project is to identify the best method for stripping the paint from large numbers of gloveboxes. Four methods being considered are the following: conventional paint stripping, dry ice pellets, strippable coatings, and high pressure water technology. The advantages of each technology will be discussed. Last, cost comparisons between the technologies will be presented

  10. Students build glovebox at Space Science Center

    Science.gov (United States)

    2001-01-01

    Students in the Young Astronaut Program at the Coca-Cola Space Science Center in Columbus, GA, constructed gloveboxes using the new NASA Student Glovebox Education Guide. The young astronauts used cardboard copier paper boxes as the heart of the glovebox. The paper boxes transformed into gloveboxes when the students pasted poster-pictures of an actual NASA microgravity science glovebox inside and outside of the paper boxes. The young astronauts then added holes for gloves and removable transparent top covers, which completed the construction of the gloveboxes. This image is from a digital still camera; higher resolution is not available.

  11. Redefining design criteria for Pu-238 gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Acosta, S.V.

    1998-01-01

    Enclosures for confinement of special nuclear materials (SNM) have evolved into the design of gloveboxes. During the early stages of glovebox technology, established practices and process operation requirements defined design criteria. Proven boxes that performed and met or exceeded process requirements in one group or area, often could not be duplicated in other areas or processes, and till achieve the same success. Changes in materials, fabrication and installation methods often only met immediate design criteria. Standardization of design criteria took a big step during creation of ''Special-Nuclear Materials R and D Laboratory Project, Glovebox standards''. The standards defined design criteria for every type of process equipment in its most general form. Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) then and now has had great success with Pu-238 processing. However with ever changing Environment Safety and Health (ES and H) requirements and Ta-55 Facility Configuration Management, current design criteria are forced to explore alternative methods of glovebox design fabrication and installation. Pu-238 fuel processing operations in the Power Source Technologies Group have pushed the limitations of current design criteria. More than half of Pu-238 gloveboxes are being retrofitted or replaced to perform the specific fuel process operations. Pu-238 glovebox design criteria are headed toward process designed single use glovebox and supporting line gloveboxes. Gloveboxes that will house equipment and processes will support TA-55 Pu-238 fuel processing needs into the next century and extend glovebox expected design life

  12. Report of working group for technical standard of cutting and melting works in Glovebox dismantling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asazuma, Shinichiroh; Takeda, Shinsoh; Tajima, Shoichi

    2004-11-01

    In order to prevent spread of contamination, glovebox dismantling activity is usually performed in a confined enclosure with personal radioactive protective equipment. Since large potion of these materials is made of vinyl acetate, there exist potential risks of fire, damage and injury to the environment and workers during the dismantling (cutting or melting) operation. It is therefore important to establish standard for proper use of equipment and hazard controls in such a specific environment. Working Group composed of Tokai Works and Oarai Works has examined and developed the operational standard for cutting work in glovebox dismantlement. The result is reflected to the Tokai Works Safety Operational Standard. (author)

  13. WRAP low level waste (LLW) glovebox operational test report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kersten, J.K.

    1998-02-19

    The Low Level Waste (LLW) Process Gloveboxes are designed to: receive a 55 gallon drum in an 85 gallon overpack in the Entry glovebox (GBIOI); and open and sort the waste from the 55 gallon drum, place the waste back into drum and relid in the Sorting glovebox (GB 102). In addition, waste which requires further examination is transferred to the LLW RWM Glovebox via the Drath and Schraeder Bagiess Transfer Port (DO-07-201) or sent to the Sample Transfer Port (STC); crush the drum in the Supercompactor glovebox (GB 104); place the resulting puck (along with other pucks) into another 85 gallon overpack in the Exit glovebox (GB 105). The status of the waste items is tracked by the Data Management System (DMS) via the Plant Control System (PCS) barcode interface. As an item is moved from the entry glovebox to the exit glovebox, the Operator will track an items location using a barcode reader and enter any required data on the DMS console. The Operational Test Procedure (OTP) will perform evolution`s (described below) using the Plant Operating Procedures (POP) in order to verify that they are sufficient and accurate for controlled glovebox operation.

  14. WRAP low level waste (LLW) glovebox operational test report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kersten, J.K.

    1998-01-01

    The Low Level Waste (LLW) Process Gloveboxes are designed to: receive a 55 gallon drum in an 85 gallon overpack in the Entry glovebox (GBIOI); and open and sort the waste from the 55 gallon drum, place the waste back into drum and relid in the Sorting glovebox (GB 102). In addition, waste which requires further examination is transferred to the LLW RWM Glovebox via the Drath and Schraeder Bagiess Transfer Port (DO-07-201) or sent to the Sample Transfer Port (STC); crush the drum in the Supercompactor glovebox (GB 104); place the resulting puck (along with other pucks) into another 85 gallon overpack in the Exit glovebox (GB 105). The status of the waste items is tracked by the Data Management System (DMS) via the Plant Control System (PCS) barcode interface. As an item is moved from the entry glovebox to the exit glovebox, the Operator will track an items location using a barcode reader and enter any required data on the DMS console. The Operational Test Procedure (OTP) will perform evolution's (described below) using the Plant Operating Procedures (POP) in order to verify that they are sufficient and accurate for controlled glovebox operation

  15. Institutional glovebox safety committee (IGSC) annual report FY2010

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cournoyer, Michael E [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Roybal, Richard F [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Lee, Roy J [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2011-01-04

    The Institutional Glovebox Safety Committee (IGSC) was chartered to minimize and/or prevent glovebox operational events. Highlights of the IGSC's third year are discussed. The focus of this working committee is to address glovebox operational and safety issues and to share Lessons Learned, best practices, training improvements, and glovebox glove breach and failure data. Highlights of the IGSC's third year are discussed. The results presented in this annual report are pivotal to the ultimate focus of the glovebox safety program, which is to minimize work-related injuries and illnesses. This effort contributes to the LANL Continuous Improvement Program by providing information that can be used to improve glovebox operational safety.

  16. Electrochemical decontamination system for actinide processing gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wedman, D.E.; Lugo, J.L.; Ford, D.K.; Nelson, T.O.; Trujillo, V.L.; Martinez, H.E.

    1998-03-01

    An electrolytic decontamination technology has been developed and successfully demonstrated at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) for the decontamination of actinide processing gloveboxes. The technique decontaminates the interior surfaces of stainless steel gloveboxes utilizing a process similar to electropolishing. The decontamination device is compact and transportable allowing it to be placed entirely within the glovebox line. In this way, decontamination does not require the operator to wear any additional personal protective equipment and there is no need for additional air handling or containment systems. Decontamination prior to glovebox decommissioning reduces the potential for worker exposure and environmental releases during the decommissioning, transport, and size reduction procedures which follow. The goal of this effort is to reduce contamination levels of alpha emitting nuclides for a resultant reduction in waste level category from High Level Transuranic (TRU) to low Specific Activity (LSA, less than or equal 100 nCi/g). This reduction in category results in a 95% reduction in disposal and disposition costs for the decontaminated gloveboxes. The resulting contamination levels following decontamination by this method are generally five orders of magnitude below the LSA specification. Additionally, the sodium sulfate based electrolyte utilized in the process is fully recyclable which results in the minimum of secondary waste. The process bas been implemented on seven gloveboxes within LANL's Plutonium Facility at Technical Area 55. Of these gloveboxes, two have been discarded as low level waste items and the remaining five have been reused

  17. Dexterity test data contribute to proper glovebox over-glove use

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cournoyer, Michael E.; Lawton, Cindy M.; Castro, Armanda M.; Costigan, Stephen A.; Apel, D.M.; Neal, G.E.; Castro, J.M.; Michelotti, R.A.

    2010-01-01

    Programmatic operations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Plutonium Facility (TA-55) involve working with various amounts of plutonium and other highly toxic, alpha-emitting materials. The spread of radiological contamination on surfaces, airborne contamination, and excursions of contaminants into the operator's breathing zone are prevented through the use of a variety of gloveboxes (the glovebox, coupled with an adequate negative pressure gradient, provides primary confinement). The glovebox gloves are the weakest part of this engineering control. The Glovebox Glove Integrity Program, which controls glovebox gloves from procurement to disposal at TA-55, manages this vulnerability. A key element of this program is to consider measures that lower the overall risk of glovebox operations. Proper selection of over-gloves is one of these measures. Line management owning glovebox processes have the responsibility to approve the appropriate personal protective equipment/glovebox glove/over-glove combination. As low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) considerations to prevent unplanned glovebox glove openings must be balanced with glove durability and worker dexterity, both of which affect the final overall risk to the worker. In this study, the causes of unplanned glovebox glove openings, the benefits of over-glove features, the effect of over-gloves on task performance using standard dexterity tests, the pollution prevention benefits, and the recommended over-gloves for a task are presented.

  18. Compatibility of selected elastomers with plutonium glovebox environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burns, R.

    1994-06-01

    This illustrative test was undertaken as a result of on-going failure of elastomer components in plutonium gloveboxes. These failures represent one of the major sources of required maintenance to keep gloveboxes operational. In particular, it was observed that the introduction of high specific activity Pu-238 into a glovebox, otherwise contaminated with Pu-239, resulted in an inordinate failure of elastomer components. Desiring to keep replacement of elastomer components to a minimum, a decision to explore a few possible alternative elastomer candidates was undertaken and reported upon herewith. Sample specimens of Neoprene, Urethane, Viton, and Hypalon elastomeric formulations were obtained from the Bacter Rubber Company. Strips of the elastomer specimens were placed in a plutonium glovebox and outside of a glovebox, and were observed for a period of three years. Of the four types of elastomers, only Hypalon remained completely viable

  19. MINIMIZING GLOVEBOX GLOVE BREACHES, PART IV: CONTROL CHARTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cournoyer, Michael E.; Lee, Michelle B.; Schreiber, Stephen B.

    2007-01-01

    At the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Plutonium Facility, plutonium. isotopes and other actinides are handled in a glovebox environment. The spread of radiological contamination, and excursions of contaminants into the worker's breathing zone, are minimized and/or prevented through the use of glovebox technology. Evaluating the glovebox configuration, the glovebo gloves are the most vulnerable part of this engineering control. Recognizing this vulnerability, the Glovebox Glove Integrity Program (GGIP) was developed to minimize and/or prevent unplanned openings in the glovebox environment, i.e., glove failures and breaches. In addition, LANL implement the 'Lean Six Sigma (LSS)' program that incorporates the practices of Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma technologies and tools to effectively improve administrative and engineering controls and work processes. One tool used in LSS is the use of control charts, which is an effective way to characterize data collected from unplanned openings in the glovebox environment. The benefit management receives from using this tool is two-fold. First, control charts signal the absence or presence of systematic variations that result in process instability, in relation to glovebox glove breaches and failures. Second, these graphical representations of process variation detennine whether an improved process is under control. Further, control charts are used to identify statistically significant variations (trends) that can be used in decision making to improve processes. This paper discusses performance indicators assessed by the use control charts, provides examples of control charts, and shows how managers use the results to make decisions. This effort contributes to LANL Continuous Improvement Program by improving the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and formality of glovebox operations.

  20. Guidelines for gloveboxes. Section 5.14: Electrical

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tollner, R.L.

    1995-07-01

    This is the electric portion of the design guidelines for gloveboxes developed by the American Glovebox Society. The topics include applicable codes/industry standards, penetrations/feedthroughs, wireways, junction boxes, receptacles, derating factors, conductors, conductor insulation and grounding. References for the guidelines are provided

  1. An Integrated Science Glovebox for the Gateway Habitat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calaway, M. J.; Evans, C. A.; Garrison, D. H.; Bell, M. S.

    2018-01-01

    Next generation habitats for deep space exploration of cislunar space, the Moon, and ultimately Mars will benefit from on-board glovebox capability. Such a glovebox facility will maintain sample integrity for a variety of scientific endeavors whether for life science, materials science, or astromaterials. Glovebox lessons learned from decades of astromaterials curation, ISS on-board sample handling, and robust analog missions provide key design and operational factors for inclusion in on-going habitat development.

  2. Robotic system for glovebox size reduction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    KWOK, KWAN S.; MCDONALD, MICHAEL J.

    2000-01-01

    The Intelligent Systems and Robotics Center (ISRC) at Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) is developing technologies for glovebox size reduction in the DOE nuclear complex. A study was performed for Kaiser-Hill (KH) at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS) on the available technologies for size reducing the glovebox lines that require size reduction in place. Currently, the baseline approach to these glovebox lines is manual operations using conventional mechanical cutting methods. The study has been completed and resulted in a concept of the robotic system for in-situ size reduction. The concept makes use of commercially available robots that are used in the automotive industry. The commercially available industrial robots provide high reliability and availability that are required for environmental remediation in the DOE complex. Additionally, the costs of commercial robots are about one-fourth that of the custom made robots for environmental remediation. The reason for the lower costs and the higher reliability is that there are thousands of commercial robots made annually, whereas there are only a few custom robots made for environmental remediation every year. This paper will describe the engineering analysis approach used in the design of the robotic system for glovebox size reduction

  3. Peak pressures from hydrogen deflagrations in the PFP thermal stabilization glovebox

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Van Keuren, J.C.

    1998-01-01

    This document describes the calculations of the peak pressures due to hydrogen deflagrations in the glovebox used for thermal stabilization (glovebox HC-21A) in PFP. Two calculations were performed. The first considered the burning of hydrogen released from a 7 inch Pu can in the Inert Atmosphere Confinement (IAC) section of the glovebox. The peak pressure increase was 12400 Pa (1.8 psi). The second calculation considered burning of the hydrogen from 25 g of plutonium hydride in the airlock leading to the main portion of the glovebox. Since the glovebox door exposes most of the airlock when open, the deflagration was assumed to pressurize the entire glovebox. The peak pressure increase was 3860 Pa (0.56 psi)

  4. Seismic analysis of plutonium glovebox by MSC/NASTRAN

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hirata, Masaru; Ishikawa, Kazuya; Korosawa, Makoto; Fukushima, Susumu; Hoshina, Hirofumi.

    1993-01-01

    Seismic analysis of the structural strength of gloveboxes is important for plutonium confinement evaluation. However, the analytical methods must be developed for evaluating the mutual displacement between the window frame and acrylic resin window panel with regard to plutonium confinement during an earthquake. Therefore, seismic analysis for a standard glovebox in Plutonium Fuel Research Facility at Oarai Research Establishment of JAERI has been conducted by FEM (Finite Element Method) computer code MSC/NASTRAN (MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation NASA Structural Analysis). Modelling of glovebox window frame has been investigated from the results of natural frequency analysis and static analysis. After the acquisition of a suitable model, displacement around the window frame and glovebox structural strength have been evaluated in detail by use of floor response spectrum analysis and time-history (transient response) analysis. (author)

  5. Determining the Radiation Damage Effect on Glovebox Glove Material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cournoyer, M.E.; Balkey, J.J.; Andrade, R.M.

    2005-01-01

    The Nuclear Material Technology (NMT) Division has the largest inventory of glove box gloves at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The minimization of unplanned breaches in the glovebox, e.g., glove failures, is a primary concern in the daily operations in NMT Division facilities, including the Plutonium Facility (PF-4) at TA-55 and Chemical and Metallurgy Research (CMR) Facility. Glovebox gloves in these facilities are exposed to elevated temperatures and exceptionally aggressive radiation environments (particulate 239 Pu and 238 Pu). Predictive models are needed to estimate glovebox glove service lifetimes, i.e. change-out intervals. Towards this aim aging studies have been initiated that correlate changes in mechanical (physical) properties with degradation chemistry. This present work derives glovebox glove change intervals based on previously reported mechanical data of thermally aged hypalon glove samples. Specifications for 30 mil tri-layered hypalon/lead glovebox gloves (TLH) and 15 mil hypalon gloves (HYP) have already been established. The relevant mechanical properties are shown on Table 1. Tensile strength is defined as the maximum load applied in breaking a tensile test piece divided by the original cross-sectional area of the test piece (Also termed maximum stress and ultimate tensile stress). Ultimate elongation is the elongation at time of rupture (Also termed maximum strain). The specification for the tensile test and ultimate elongation are the minimum acceptable values. In addition, the ultimate elongation must not vary 20% from the original value. In order to establish a service lifetimes for glovebox gloves in a thermal environment, the mechanical properties of glovebox glove materials were studied.

  6. Determining the Radiation Damage Effect on Glovebox Glove Material.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cournoyer, M. E. (Michael E.); Balkey, J. J. (James J.); Andrade, R.M. (Rose M.)

    2005-01-01

    The Nuclear Material Technology (NMT) Division has the largest inventory of glove box gloves at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The minimization of unplanned breaches in the glovebox, e.g., glove failures, is a primary concern in the daily operations in NMT Division facilities, including the Plutonium Facility (PF-4) at TA-55 and Chemical and Metallurgy Research (CMR) Facility. Glovebox gloves in these facilities are exposed to elevated temperatures and exceptionally aggressive radiation environments (particulate {sup 239}Pu and {sup 238}Pu). Predictive models are needed to estimate glovebox glove service lifetimes, i.e. change-out intervals. Towards this aim aging studies have been initiated that correlate changes in mechanical (physical) properties with degradation chemistry. This present work derives glovebox glove change intervals based on previously reported mechanical data of thermally aged hypalon glove samples. Specifications for 30 mil tri-layered hypalon/lead glovebox gloves (TLH) and 15 mil hypalon gloves (HYP) have already been established. The relevant mechanical properties are shown on Table 1. Tensile strength is defined as the maximum load applied in breaking a tensile test piece divided by the original cross-sectional area of the test piece (Also termed maximum stress and ultimate tensile stress). Ultimate elongation is the elongation at time of rupture (Also termed maximum strain). The specification for the tensile test and ultimate elongation are the minimum acceptable values. In addition, the ultimate elongation must not vary 20% from the original value. In order to establish a service lifetimes for glovebox gloves in a thermal environment, the mechanical properties of glovebox glove materials were studied.

  7. Automated, High Temperature Furnace for Glovebox Operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neikirk, K.

    2001-01-01

    The U.S. Department of Energy will immobilize excess plutonium in the proposed Plutonium Immobilization Plant (PIP) at the Savannah River Site (SRS) as part of a two track approach for the disposition of weapons usable plutonium. As such, the Department of Energy is funding a development and testing effort for the PIP. This effort is being performed jointly by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The Plutonium Immobilization process involves the disposition of excess plutonium by incorporation into ceramic pucks. As part of the immobilization process, furnaces are needed for sintering the ceramic pucks. The furnace being developed for puck sintering is an automated, bottom loaded furnace with insulting package and resistance heating elements located within a nuclear glovebox. Other furnaces considered for the application include retort furnaces and pusher furnaces. This paper, in part, will discuss the furnace technologies considered and furnace technology selected to support reliable puck sintering in a glovebox environment. Due to the radiation levels and contamination associated with the plutonium material, the sintering process will be fully automated and contained within nuclear material gloveboxes. As such, the furnace currently under development incorporates water and air cooling to minimize heat load to the glovebox. This paper will describe the furnace equipment and systems needed to employ a fully automated puck sintering process within nuclear gloveboxes as part of the Plutonium Immobilization Plant

  8. Develop and Manufacture an Ergonomically Sound Glovebox Glove Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lawton, Cindy M. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2017-10-18

    Ergonomic injury and radiation exposure are two safety concerns for the Plutonium Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). This facility employs the largest number of gloveboxes (GB) at LANL with approximately 6000 gloves installed. The current GB glove design dates back to the 1960’s and is not based on true hand anatomy, revealing several issues: short fingers, inappropriate length from the wrist to finger webbing, nonexistent joint angles and incorrect thumb placement. These design flaws are directly related to elbow (lateral epicondylitis) and thumb (DeQuervain’s tenosynovitis) injuries. The current design also contributes to increased wear on the glove, causing unplanned glove openings (failures) which places workers at risk of exposure. An improved glovebox glove design has three significant benefits: 1) it will reduce the risk of injury, 2) it will improve comfort and productivity, and 3) it will reduce the risk of a glovebox failures. The combination of these three benefits has estimated savings of several million dollars. The new glove design incorporated the varied physical attributes of workers ranging from the 5th percentile female to the 95th percentile male. Anthropometric hand dimensions along with current GB worker dimensions were used to develop the most comprehensive design specifications for the new glove. Collaboration with orthopedic hand surgeons also provided major contributtions to the design. The new glovebox glove was developed and manufactured incorporating over forty dimensions producing the most comprehensive ergonomically sound design. The new design received a LANL patent (patent attorney docket No: LANS 36USD1 “Protective Glove”, one of 20 highest patents awarded by the Richard P. Feynman Center for Innovation. The glove dimensions were inputed into a solid works model which was used to produce molds. The molds were then shipped to a glove manufacturer for production of the new glovebox gloves. The new

  9. 2014 AFCI Glovebox Event Executive Summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campbell, Joseph Lenard

    2016-01-01

    One of the primary INL missions is to support development of advanced fuels with the goal of creating reactor fuels that produce less waste and are easier to store. The Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) Glovebox in the Fuel Manufacturing Facility (FMF) is used for several fuel fabrication steps that involve transuranic elements, including americium. The AFCI glove box contains equipment used for fuel fabrication, including an arc melter - a small, laboratory-scale version of an electric arc furnace used to make new metal alloys for research - and an americium distillation apparatus. This overview summarizes key findings related to the investigation into the releases of airborne radioactivity that occurred in the AFCI glovebox room in late August and early September 2014. The full report (AFCI Glovebox Radiological Release - Evaluation, Corrective Actions and Testing, INL/INL-15-36996) provides details of the identified issues, corrective actions taken as well as lessons learned

  10. Chloride-catalyzed corrosion of plutonium in glovebox atmospheres

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burgess, M.; Haschke, J.M.; Allen, T.H.; Morales, L.A.; Jarboe, D.M.; Puglisi, C.V.

    1998-04-01

    Characterization of glovebox atmospheres and the black reaction product formed on plutonium surfaces shows that the abnormally rapid corrosion of components in the fabrication line is consistent with a complex salt-catalyzed reaction involving gaseous hydrogen chloride (HCl) and water. Analytical data verify that chlorocarbon and HCl vapors are presented in stagnant glovebox atmospheres. Hydrogen chloride concentrations approach 7 ppm at some locations in the glovebox line. The black corrosion product is identified as plutonium monoxide monohydride (PuOH), a product formed by hydrolysis of plutonium in liquid water and salt solutions at room temperature. Plutonium trichloride (PuCl 3 ) produced by reaction of HCl at the metal surface is deliquescent and apparently forms a highly concentrated salt solution by absorbing moisture from the glovebox atmosphere. Rapid corrosion is attributed to the ensuing salt-catalyzed reaction between plutonium and water. Experimental results are discussed, possible involvement of hydrogen fluoride (HF) is examined, and methods of corrective action are presented in this report

  11. Scrap of gloveboxes No. 801-W and No. 802-W

    CERN Document Server

    Ohuchi, S; Kurosawa, M; Okane, S; Usui, T

    2002-01-01

    Both gloveboxes No. 801-W for measuring samples of uranium or plutonium and No. 802-W for analyzing the quantity of uranium or plutonium are established at twenty five years ago in the analyzing room No. 108 of Plutonium Fuel Research Facility. It was planned to scrap the gloveboxes and to establish new gloveboxes. This report describes the technical view of the scrapping works.

  12. Dexterity tests data contribute to reduction in leaded glovebox gloves use

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cournoyer, Michael E [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Lawton, Cindy M [Los Alamos National Laboratory; Castro, Amanda M [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2008-01-01

    Programmatic operations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Plutonium Facility (TA-55) involve working with various amounts of plutonium and other highly toxic, alphaemitting materials. The spread of radiological contamination on surfaces and airborne contamination and excursions of contaminants into the operator's breathing zone are prevented through the use of a variety of gloveboxes. Through an integrated approach, controls have been developed and implemented through an efficient Glovebox Glove Integrity Program (GGJP). A key element of this program is to consider measures that lower the overall risk of glovebox operations. Line management owning glovebox processes through this program make decisions on which type of glovebox gloves (the weakest component of this safety significant system) would perform in these aggressive environments. As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) considerations must be balanced with glove durability and worker dexterity, both of which affect the final overall risk of the operation. In the past, lead-loaded (leaded) glovebox gloves made from Hypalon(reg.) had been the workhorse of programmatic operations at TA-55. Replacing leaded gloves with unleaded gloves for certain operations would lower the overall risk as well as reduced the amount of mixed TRU waste. This effort contributes to Los Alamos National Laboratory Continuous Improvement Program by improving the efficiency, cost effectiveness, and formality of glovebox operations. In the following report, the pros and cons of wearing leaded glovebox gloves, the effect of leaded gloves versus unleaded gloves on task performance using standard dexterity tests, the justification for switching from leaded to unleaded gloves, and pollution prevention benefits of this dramatic change in the glovebox system are presented.

  13. Decrease the Number of Glovebox Glove Breaches and Failures

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hurtle, Jackie C. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2013-12-24

    Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is committed to the protection of the workers, public, and environment while performing work and uses gloveboxes as engineered controls to protect workers from exposure to hazardous materials while performing plutonium operations. Glovebox gloves are a weak link in the engineered controls and are a major cause of radiation contamination events which can result in potential worker exposure and localized contamination making operational areas off-limits and putting programmatic work on hold. Each day of lost opportunity at Technical Area (TA) 55, Plutonium Facility (PF) 4 is estimated at $1.36 million. Between July 2011 and June 2013, TA-55-PF-4 had 65 glovebox glove breaches and failures with an average of 2.7 per month. The glovebox work follows the five step safety process promoted at LANL with a decision diamond interjected for whether or not a glove breach or failure event occurred in the course of performing glovebox work. In the event that no glove breach or failure is detected, there is an additional decision for whether or not contamination is detected. In the event that contamination is detected, the possibility for a glove breach or failure event is revisited.

  14. Comparison of deliverable and exhaustible pressurized air flow rates in laboratory gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Compton, J.A.

    1994-01-01

    Calculations were performed to estimate the maximum credible flow rates of pressurized air into Plutonium Process Support Laboratories gloveboxes. Classical equations for compressible fluids were used to estimate the flow rates. The calculated maxima were compared to another's estimates of glovebox exhaust flow rates and corresponding glovebox internal pressures. No credible pressurized air flow rate will pressurize a glovebox beyond normal operating limits. Unrestricted use of the pressurized air supply is recommended

  15. WRAP low level waste (LLW) glovebox acceptance test report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leist, K.J.

    1998-01-01

    In June 28, 1997, the Low Level Waste (LLW) glovebox was tested using glovebox acceptance test procedure 13031A-85. The primary focus of the glovebox acceptance test was to examine control system interlocks, display menus, alarms, and operator messages. Limited mechanical testing involving the drum ports, hoists, drum lifter, compacted drum lifter, drum tipper, transfer car, conveyors, lidder/delidder device and the supercompactor were also conducted. As of November 24, 1997, 2 of the 131 test exceptions that affect the LLW glovebox remain open. These items will be tracked and closed via the WRAP Master Test Exception Database. As part of Test Exception resolution/closure the responsible individual closing the Test Exception performs a retest of the affected item(s) to ensure the identified deficiency is corrected, and, or to test items not previously available to support testing. Test Exceptions are provided as appendices to this report

  16. W-026, transuranic waste (TRU) glovebox acceptance test report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leist, K.J.

    1998-01-01

    On July 18, 1997, the Transuranic (TRU) glovebox was tested using glovebox acceptance test procedure 13021A-86. The primary focus of the glovebox acceptance test was to examine control system interlocks, display menus, alarms, and operator messages. Limited mechanical testing involving the drum ports, hoists, drum lifter, compacted drum lifter, drum tipper, transfer car, conveyors, sorting table, lidder/delidder device and the TRU empty drum compactor were also conducted. As of February 25, 1998, 10 of the 102 test exceptions that affect the TRU glovebox remain open. These items will be tracked and closed via the WRAP Master Test Exception Database. As part of Test Exception resolution/closure the responsible individual closing the Test Exception performs a retest of the affected item(s) to ensure the identified deficiency is corrected, and, or to test items not previously available to support testing. Test exceptions are provided as appendices to this report

  17. WRAP low level waste (LLW) glovebox acceptance test report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leist, K.J.

    1998-02-17

    In June 28, 1997, the Low Level Waste (LLW) glovebox was tested using glovebox acceptance test procedure 13031A-85. The primary focus of the glovebox acceptance test was to examine control system interlocks, display menus, alarms, and operator messages. Limited mechanical testing involving the drum ports, hoists, drum lifter, compacted drum lifter, drum tipper, transfer car, conveyors, lidder/delidder device and the supercompactor were also conducted. As of November 24, 1997, 2 of the 131 test exceptions that affect the LLW glovebox remain open. These items will be tracked and closed via the WRAP Master Test Exception Database. As part of Test Exception resolution/closure the responsible individual closing the Test Exception performs a retest of the affected item(s) to ensure the identified deficiency is corrected, and, or to test items not previously available to support testing. Test Exceptions are provided as appendices to this report.

  18. Design/build/mockup of the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant gas generation experiment glovebox

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rosenberg, K.E.; Benjamin, W.W.; Knight, C.J.; Michelbacher, J.A.

    1996-01-01

    A glovebox was designed, fabricated, and mocked-up for the WIPP Gas Generation Experiments (GGE) being conducted at ANL-W. GGE will determine the gas generation rates from materials in contact handled transuranic waste at likely long term repository temperature and pressure conditions. Since the customer's schedule did not permit time for performing R ampersand D of the support systems, designing the glovebox, and fabricating the glovebox in a serial fashion, a parallel approach was undertaken. As R ampersand D of the sampling system and other support systems was initiated, a specification was written concurrently for contracting a manufacturer to design and build the glovebox and support equipment. The contractor understood that the R ampersand D being performed at ANL-W would add additional functional requirements to the glovebox design. Initially, the contractor had sufficient information to design the glovebox shell. Once the shell design was approved, ANL-W built a full scale mockup of the shell out of plywood and metal framing; support systems were mocked up and resultant information was forwarded to the glovebox contractor to incorporate into the design. This approach resulted in a glovebox being delivered to ANL-W on schedule and within budget

  19. Survey of Technologies to Support Reuse of Gloveboxes at LANL TA-55

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cadwallader, L.C.; Pinson, P.A.

    1998-01-01

    This report is a summary of ideas and technologies available to support reuse of plutonium gloveboxes at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Technical Area 55 (TA-55). This work is the second of two deliverables in the task to enhance glovebox design for longevity and reusability at TA-55. The report presents several design change suggestions to be evaluated for their feasibility by LANL glovebox designers. The report also describes some techniques to be evaluated by LANL for their usefulness in reducing glovebox waste

  20. The Virtual Glovebox (VGX): An Immersive Simulation System for Training Astronauts to Perform Glovebox Experiments in Space

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Jeffrey D.; Dalton, Bonnie (Technical Monitor)

    2002-01-01

    The era of the International Space Station (ISS) has finally arrived, providing researchers on Earth a unique opportunity to study long-term effects of weightlessness and the space environment on structures, materials and living systems. Many of the physical, biological and material science experiments planned for ISS will require significant input and expertise from astronauts who must conduct the research, follow complicated assay procedures and collect data and samples in space. Containment is essential for Much of this work, both to protect astronauts from potentially harmful biological, chemical or material elements in the experiments as well as to protect the experiments from contamination by air-born particles In the Space Station environment. When astronauts must open the hardware containing such experiments, glovebox facilities provide the necessary barrier between astronaut and experiment. On Earth, astronauts are laced with the demanding task of preparing for the many glovebox experiments they will perform in space. Only a short time can be devoted to training for each experimental task and gl ovebox research only accounts for a small portion of overall training and mission objectives on any particular ISS mission. The quality of the research also must remain very high, requiring very detailed experience and knowledge of instrumentation, anatomy and specific scientific objectives for those who will conduct the research. This unique set of needs faced by NASA has stemmed the development of a new computer simulation tool, the Virtual Glovebox (VGB), which is designed to provide astronaut crews and support personnel with a means to quickly and accurately prepare and train for glovebox experiments in space.

  1. Glovebox characterization and barrier integrity testing using fluorescent powder

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wahlquist, D.R.

    1996-01-01

    This paper presents a method for characterizing the spread of contamination and testing the barrier integrity of a new glovebox during material transfer operations and glove change-outs using fluorescent powder. Argonne National Laboratory-West has performed this test on several new gloveboxes prior to putting them into service. The test is performed after the glovebox has been leak tested and all systems have been verified to be operational. The purpose of the test is to show that bag-in/bag-out operations and glove change-outs can be accomplished without spreading the actual contaminated material to non-contaminated areas. The characterization test also provides information as to where contamination might be expected to build-up during actual operations. The fluorescent powder is used because it is easily detectable using an ultra-violet light and disperses in a similar fashion to radioactive material. The characterization and barrier integrity test of a glovebox using fluorescent powder provides a visual method of determining areas of potential contamination accumulation and helps evaluate the ability to perform clean transfer operations and glove change-outs

  2. DISPOSITION PATHS FOR ROCKY FLATS GLOVEBOXES: EVALUATING OPTIONS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lobdell, D.; Geimer, R.; Larsen, P.; Loveland, K.

    2003-01-01

    The Kaiser-Hill Company, LLC has the responsibility for closure activities at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site (RFETS). One of the challenges faced for closure is the disposition of radiologically contaminated gloveboxes. Evaluation of the disposition options for gloveboxes included a detailed analysis of available treatment capabilities, disposal facilities, and lifecycle costs. The Kaiser-Hill Company, LLC followed several processes in determining how the gloveboxes would be managed for disposition. Currently, multiple disposition paths have been chosen to accommodate the needs of the varying styles and conditions of the gloveboxes, meet the needs of the decommissioning team, and to best manage lifecycle costs. Several challenges associated with developing a disposition path that addresses both the radiological and RCRA concerns as well as offering the most cost-effective solution were encountered. These challenges included meeting the radiological waste acceptance criteria of available disposal facilities, making a RCRA determination, evaluating treatment options and costs, addressing void requirements associated with disposal, and identifying packaging and transportation options. The varying disposal facility requirements affected disposition choices. Facility conditions that impacted decisions included radiological and chemical waste acceptance criteria, physical requirements, and measurement for payment options. The facility requirements also impacted onsite activities including management strategies, decontamination activities, and life-cycle cost

  3. Follow-On Vapor Containment Tests of the Rapid Response System Glovebox

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Arca, Victor

    1997-01-01

    ...) glovebox in April 1996. The tests were conducted by generating a cloud of the simulant methyl salicylate inside the glovebox and measuring the concentration of any simulant that permeated to the operator workspace...

  4. Dexterity Test Data Contribute To Reduction in Leaded Glovebox Glove Use

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cournoyer, M.E.; Lawton, C.M.; Castro, A.M.; Costigan, S.A.; Schreiber, S.

    2009-01-01

    Programmatic operations at the Los Alamos National Laboratory Plutonium Facility (TA-55) involve working with various amounts of plutonium and other highly toxic, alpha-emitting materials. The spread of radiological contamination on surfaces, airborne contamination, and excursions of contaminants into the operator's breathing zone are prevented through the use of a variety of gloveboxes. Using an integrated approach, controls have been developed and implemented through an efficient Glovebox Glove Integrity Program. A key element of this program is to consider measures that lower the overall risk of glovebox operations. Line management who own glovebox processes through this program make decisions on which type of glovebox gloves (hereafter referred to as gloves), the weakest component of this safety-significant system, would perform best in these aggressive environments. As Low as Reasonably Achievable considerations must be balanced with glove durability and worker dexterity, both of which affect the final overall risk of the operation. In the past, lead-loaded (leaded) gloves made from Hypalon R were the primary glove for programmatic operations at TA-55. Replacing leaded gloves with unleaded gloves for certain operations would lower the overall risk as well as reduce the amount of mixed transuranic waste. This effort contributes to the Los Alamos National Laboratory Continuous Improvement Program by improving the efficiency, cost-effectiveness, and formality of glovebox operations. In this report, the pros and cons of wearing leaded gloves, the effect of leaded gloves versus unleaded gloves on task performance using standard dexterity tests, the justification for switching from leaded to unleaded gloves, and the pollution prevention benefits of this dramatic change in the glovebox system are presented. (authors)

  5. Macro and Micro Remote Viewing of Objects in Sealed Gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Heckendorn, F.M.

    2004-01-01

    The Savannah River Site uses sophisticated glovebox facilities to process and analyze material that is radiologically contaminated or that must be protected from contamination by atmospheric gases. The analysis can be visual, non destructive measurement, or destructive measurement, and allows for the gathering of information that would otherwise not be obtainable. Macro and Micro systems that cover a range of 2X to 400X magnifications with a robust system compatible with the harsh glovebox environment were installed. Remote video inspection systems were developed and deployed in Savannah River Site glovebox facilities that provide high quality or mega-pixel quality remote views, for remote inspections. The specialized video systems that are the subject of this report exhibited specialized field application of remote video/viewing techniques by expanding remote viewing to high and very high quality viewing in gloveboxes. This technological enhancement will allow the gathering of precision information that is otherwise not available

  6. Tritium stripping in a nitrogen glovebox using SAES St 198

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Klein, J.E.; Wermer, J.R.

    1994-01-01

    SAES metal getter material St 198 was chosen for glovebox stripper tests to evaluate its effectiveness of removing tritium from a nitrogen atmosphere. The St 198 material is unique from a number of other metal hydride-based getter materials in that it is relatively inert to nitrogen and can thus be used in nitrogen glovebox atmospheres. Six tritium stripper experiments which mock-up the use of a SAES St 198 stripper bed for a full-scale (10,500 liter) nitrogen glovebox have been completed. Experiments consisted of a release of small quantity of protium/deuterium spiked with tritium which were scaled to simulate tritium releases of 0.1 g., 1.0 g., and 10 g. into the glovebox. The tritium spike allows detection using tritium ion chambers. The St 198 stripper system produced a reduction in tritium activity of approximately two orders of magnitude in 24 hours (6--8 atmosphere turn-overs) of stripper operation

  7. Unique features in the ARIES glovebox line

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martinez, H.E.; Brown, W.G.; Flamm, B.; James, C.A.; Laskie, R.; Nelson, T.O.; Wedman, D.E.

    1998-01-01

    A series of unique features have been incorporated into the Advanced Recovery and Integrated Extraction System (ARIES) at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, TA-55 Plutonium Facility. The features enhance the material handling in the process of the dismantlement of nuclear weapon primaries in the glovebox line. Incorporated into these features are the various plutonium process module's different ventilation zone requirements that the material handling systems must meet. These features include a conveyor system that consists of a remotely controlled cart that transverses the length of the conveyor glovebox, can be operated from a remote location and can deliver process components to the entrance of any selected module glovebox. Within the modules there exists linear motion material handling systems with lifting hoist, which are controlled via an Allen Bradley control panel or local control panels. To remove the packaged products from the hot process line, the package is processed through an air lock/electrolytic decontamination process that removes the radioactive contamination from the outside of the package container and allows the package to be removed from the process line

  8. Study of plutonium fire extinction in glove-boxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boisson, H.; Chappellier, A.; Debiar, A.; Savornin, J.

    1965-01-01

    The report concerns attempts to extinguish fire in uranium - chosen as a basis for comparison - and in plutonium, these being contained in glove boxes. The extinguishing powders TEC and MG 10 were tried and compared. The operator used in plastic bags. The metal was dealt with respectively in the form of billets, compact chips and finally thin shavings. In each case fire control was without difficulty. One must allow a certain time for cooling. The powder MG 10 showed very good results. Moreover, the trials proved that densely packed shavings are a very real security factor. The interior lay-out of the glove boxes ought, in order to facilitate further manipulations, be such as to render extinction as easy as possible should the need arise. (authors) [fr

  9. Rotator Cuff Strength Ratio and Injury in Glovebox Workers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Weaver, Amelia M. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2014-01-30

    Rotator cuff integrity is critical to shoulder health. Due to the high workload imposed upon the shoulder while working in an industrial glovebox, this study investigated the strength ratio of the rotator cuff muscles in glovebox workers and compared this ratio to the healthy norm. Descriptive statistics were collected using a short questionnaire. Handheld dynamometry was used to quantify the ratio of forces produced in the motions of shoulder internal and external rotation. Results showed this population to have shoulder strength ratios that were significantly different from the healthy norm. The deviation from the normal ratio demonstrates the need for solutions designed to reduce the workload on the rotator cuff musculature of glovebox workers in order to improve health and safety. Assessment of strength ratios can be used to screen for risk of symptom development.

  10. Requalification of the 235-F Metallograph Facility gloveboxes for use in the 773-A plutonium immobilization demonstration

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hinds, S.S.; Hidlay, J.

    1997-01-01

    A concern has been identified regarding the viability of redesigning and requalifying existing glovebox lines for use as glovebox lines integral to future mission activities in the 773-A laboratory building at the Savannah River Site (SRS). The Bechtel Savannah River Inc. (BSRI) design engineering team has been requested to perform an evaluation which would investigate the reuse of these existing gloveboxes versus the procurement of completely new glovebox systems. The existing glovebox lines were manufactured for the Plutonium (Pu) Metallograph Facility, Project 3253, located in building 235-F at SRS. These gloveboxes were designed as independent, fully functional Pu 'metal' and Pu 'oxide' processing glovebox systems for this facility. These gloveboxes, although fully installed, have never processed radioactive material. The proposed use for these gloveboxes are: (1) to utilize the Pu 'metal' glovebox system for the primary containment associated with the Pre-Processing/Re-Processing Laboratory for obtaining radioactive glass compound viscometer analysis and (2) to utilize the Pu 'oxide' glovebox system for primary containment associated with the Pu 'Can in Can' Demonstration for proof of principle testing specific to long term Pu immobilization and storage technology. This report presents objective evidence that supports the engineering judgment indicating the existing gloveboxes can be requalified for the proposed uses indicated above. SRS has the ability to duplicate the test parameters, with site forces, that will meet or exceed the identical acceptance criteria established to qualify the existing gloveboxes. The qualification effort will be a documented procedure using the leak test criteria characteristic of the original glovebox purchase. Two equivalent tests will be performed, one for post modification leak test acceptance and one for post installation leak test acceptance. (Abstract Truncated)

  11. Glovebox enclosed dc plasma source for the determination of metals in plutonium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Morris, W.F.

    1986-01-01

    The direct current plasma source of a Beckman Spectraspan IIIB emission spectrometer was enclosed in a glovebox at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in December 1982. Since that time, the system has been used for the routine determination of alloy and impurity metals in plutonium. This paper presents the systematic steps involved in developing the glovebox and gives information regarding performance of the plasma in the glovebox and the effectiveness of containment of plutonium. 8 refs., 9 figs., 3 tabs

  12. Glovebox glove change program at Technical Area 55, Los Alamos National Laboratory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Olivas, J.D.; Burkett, B.O.; Weier, D.R.

    1992-01-01

    A formal glovebox glove change program is planned for the the gloveboxes in technical area 55 at the Los Alamos National laboratory. The program will increase worker safety by reducing the chance of having worn out gloves in service. The Los Alamos program is based on a similar successful program at the Rocky Flats Plant in Golden, Colorado. Glove change frequencies at Rocky Flats were determined statistically, and are based on environmental factors the glovebox gloves are subjected to

  13. Issues for reuse of gloveboxes at LANL TA-55

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cadwallader, L.C.; Pinson, P.A.; Miller, C.F.

    1998-08-01

    This report is a summary of issues that face plutonium glovebox designers and users at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Technical Area 55 (TA-55). Characterizing the issues is a step in the task of enhancing the next generation glovebox design to minimize waste streams while providing the other design functions. This report gives an initial assessment of eight important design and operation issues that can benefit from waste minimization.

  14. Issues for reuse of gloveboxes at LANL TA-55

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cadwallader, L.C.; Pinson, P.A.; Miller, C.F.

    1998-08-01

    This report is a summary of issues that face plutonium glovebox designers and users at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Technical Area 55 (TA-55). Characterizing the issues is a step in the task of enhancing the next generation glovebox design to minimize waste streams while providing the other design functions. This report gives an initial assessment of eight important design and operation issues that can benefit from waste minimization

  15. Design improvements for gloveboxes used [in] 238PuO2 process operations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    George, T.G.

    1997-01-01

    238 PuO 2 process operations are housed in a complex of 76 gloveboxes and introductory hoods connected by means of an overhead trolley housed in a tunnel. Because a significant number of the gloveboxes used for 238 PuO 2 processing were installed before the original startup of the facility in 1978, they have been in service for nearly 20 years. During a recent heat source production campaign, numerous contamination releases in the 238 PuO 2 processing area were traced to degraded elastomer gaskets used for glovebox connections, and attachment of feed-throughs, service panels, and windows. Evaluation of the degraded gaskets revealed that a combination of radiolytic degradation related to the high specific activity of 238 Pu, and extended service at high altitude in a low (to extremely low) humidity environment had resulted in accelerated gasket aging. However, it was also apparent that gasket design was the most important factor in actual contamination release. All of the contamination releases that were traced to degraded gaskets occurred in variations of a design that used a spline to expand an elastomeric gasket into the space between a connecting flange, window, or service panel, and a glovebox opening. No contamination releases were traced to the gasket design that employed bolted clamps to compress the gasket between a connecting flange, window, or panel, and the exterior surface of a glovebox opening. As a result of these findings, the Actinide Ceramics group at LANL (NMT-9) has initiated a routine replacement and upgrade program to replace aging gloveboxes. All of the new gloveboxes will utilize the preferred gasket design, which is expected to reduce the number and frequency of contamination releases

  16. Constant depression fan system a novel glovebox ventilation system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Milliner, W.V.

    1995-01-01

    In a conventional glovebox ventilation system the depression within the glovebox under normal operation is controlled by instrumentation. In the event of a breach the pressure within the box rises to atmospheric pressure, this pressure rise is detected by instrumentation which in turn operates a quick opening damper in a high depression extract to achieve a 1 metre/sec (200 fpm) inflow through the breach, which can take up to 2 seconds to establish. This system, although widely used, suffers from two distinct drawbacks: It takes a finite time to achieve the containment velocity of 1 metre/sec. It relies upon instrumentation to achieve its objectives. A new glovebox ventilation system has been developed by AWE to overcome these drawbacks. This is the Constant Depression Fan System (CDFS) which is based on an extract fan with a flat characteristic. This achieves all the requirements for the ventilation of gloveboxes and has the advantages that: It has only one moving part - the extract fan. It requires NO INSTRUMENTATION to achieve its objectives. It achieves the containment velocity of 1 metre/sec in the shortest possible time - approximately 0.2 seconds - and tests have shown that containment is maintained under breach conditions. Thus the CDFS is SAFER, SIMPLER and MORE RELIABLE

  17. Constant depression fan system a novel glovebox ventilation system

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Milliner, W.V. [AME plc., Aldermaston (United Kingdom)

    1995-02-01

    In a conventional glovebox ventilation system the depression within the glovebox under normal operation is controlled by instrumentation. In the event of a breach the pressure within the box rises to atmospheric pressure, this pressure rise is detected by instrumentation which in turn operates a quick opening damper in a high depression extract to achieve a 1 metre/sec (200 fpm) inflow through the breach, which can take up to 2 seconds to establish. This system, although widely used, suffers from two distinct drawbacks: It takes a finite time to achieve the containment velocity of 1 metre/sec. It relies upon instrumentation to achieve its objectives. A new glovebox ventilation system has been developed by AWE to overcome these drawbacks. This is the Constant Depression Fan System (CDFS) which is based on an extract fan with a flat characteristic. This achieves all the requirements for the ventilation of gloveboxes and has the advantages that: It has only one moving part - the extract fan. It requires NO INSTRUMENTATION to achieve its objectives. It achieves the containment velocity of 1 metre/sec in the shortest possible time - approximately 0.2 seconds - and tests have shown that containment is maintained under breach conditions. Thus the CDFS is SAFER, SIMPLER and MORE RELIABLE.

  18. Standard guide for design criteria for plutonium gloveboxes

    CERN Document Server

    American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

    2009-01-01

    1.1 This guide defines criteria for the design of glovebox systems to be used for the handling of plutonium in any chemical or physical form or isotopic composition or when mixed with other elements or compounds. Not included in the criteria are systems auxiliary to the glovebox systems such as utilities, ventilation, alarm, and waste disposal. Also not addressed are hot cells or open-face hoods. The scope of this guide excludes specific license requirements relating to provisions for criticality prevention, hazards control, safeguards, packaging, and material handling. Observance of this guide does not relieve the user of the obligation to conform to all federal, state, and local regulations for design and construction of glovebox systems. 1.2 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as the standard. The values given in parentheses are for information only. 1.3 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety problems, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user...

  19. Seismic analysis of safety class 1 incinerator glovebox in building 232-Z 200 W Area

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ocoma, E.C.

    1994-09-01

    This report documents the seismic evaluation for the existing safety class 1 incinerator glovebox in 232Z Building. The glovebox is no longer in use and most of the internal mechanical equipment have been removed. However, the insulation firebricks are still in the glovebox for proper disposal

  20. Ventilation of gloveboxes and containment shells

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guetron, R.

    1984-01-01

    In this paper are defined fundamental principles for the ventilation of containment enclosures and gloveboxes, and examined criteria required to maintain containment in normal or accidental conditions. Dimensioning of ventilation network and associated equipment (adjustement and filtering devices). Some examples are given [fr

  1. Ergonomic glovebox workspace layout tool and associated method of use

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roddy, Shannon Howard

    2018-02-20

    The present invention provides an elongate tool that aides in the placement of objects and machinery within a glovebox, such that the objects and machinery can be safely handled by a user. The tool includes a plurality of visual markings (in English units, metric units, other units, grooves, ridges, varying widths, etc.) that indicate distance from the user within the glovebox, optionally broken into placement preference zones that are color coded, grayscale coded, or the like.

  2. Design considerations for heated wells in gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frigo, A. A.; Preuss, D. E.

    1999-01-01

    Heated wells in gloveboxes have been used for many years by the Argonne National Laboratory Chemical Technology Division for nuclear-technology, waste-management, chemical-technology, and analytical-chemistry research. These wells allow experiments to be isolated from the main working volume of the glovebox. In addition, wells, when sealed, allow experiments to be conducted under pressurized or vacuum conditions. Until recently, typical maximum operational temperatures were about 500 C. However, more recent research is requiring operational temperatures approaching 900 C. These new requirements pose interesting design challenges that must be resolved. Some problem areas include temperature effects on material properties, maintaining a seal, cooling selected areas, and minimizing stresses. This paper discusses issues related to these design challenges and the ways in which these issues have been resolved

  3. Automated, High Temperature Furnace for Glovebox Operation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neikirk, K.

    2001-01-01

    The Plutonium Immobilization Project (PIP), to be located at the Savannah River Site SRS, is a combined development and testing effort by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Westinghouse Savannah River Company (WSRC), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and the Australian National Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO). The Plutonium Immobilization process involves the disposition of excess plutonium by incorporation into ceramic pucks. As part of the immobilization process, furnaces are needed for sintering the ceramic pucks. The furnace being developed for puck sintering is an automated, bottom loaded furnace with insulating package and resistance heating elements located within a nuclear glovebox. Other furnaces types considered for the application include retort furnaces and pusher furnaces. This paper, in part, will discuss the furnace technologies considered and furnace technology selected to support reliable puck sintering in a glovebox environment

  4. Design improvements for gloveboxes used [in] {sup 238}PuO{sub 2} process operations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    George, T.G. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States). Nuclear Materials Technology Div.

    1997-09-01

    {sup 238}PuO{sub 2} process operations are housed in a complex of 76 gloveboxes and introductory hoods connected by means of an overhead trolley housed in a tunnel. Because a significant number of the gloveboxes used for {sup 238}PuO{sub 2} processing were installed before the original startup of the facility in 1978, they have been in service for nearly 20 years. During a recent heat source production campaign, numerous contamination releases in the {sup 238}PuO{sub 2} processing area were traced to degraded elastomer gaskets used for glovebox connections, and attachment of feed-throughs, service panels, and windows. Evaluation of the degraded gaskets revealed that a combination of radiolytic degradation related to the high specific activity of {sup 238}Pu, and extended service at high altitude in a low (to extremely low) humidity environment had resulted in accelerated gasket aging. However, it was also apparent that gasket design was the most important factor in actual contamination release. All of the contamination releases that were traced to degraded gaskets occurred in variations of a design that used a spline to expand an elastomeric gasket into the space between a connecting flange, window, or service panel, and a glovebox opening. No contamination releases were traced to the gasket design that employed bolted clamps to compress the gasket between a connecting flange, window, or panel, and the exterior surface of a glovebox opening. As a result of these findings, the Actinide Ceramics group at LANL (NMT-9) has initiated a routine replacement and upgrade program to replace aging gloveboxes. All of the new gloveboxes will utilize the preferred gasket design, which is expected to reduce the number and frequency of contamination releases.

  5. Applications of LabVIEW programming in a glovebox environment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Evans, M.E.; Peralta, G.; Gray, D.

    1995-01-01

    When dealing with neutron radiation one of the keys to reducing worker exposure is to have as much distance and shielding between the radiation and the radiation worker as possible. Using a PC to control a process from a remote location allows the distance between the radiation worker and the radiation source to be increase. Increasing the distance at which radiation worker can control a process allows more shielding to be placed around the glovebox. There are many commercial packages that allow controlling remote processes with a PC. This paper shows how flexible the LabVIEW Graphical Programming Language can be in implementing the remote control of glovebox process

  6. Organic Contamination Baseline Study on NASA JSC Astromaterial Curation Gloveboxes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calaway, Michael J.; Allton, J. H.; Allen, C. C.; Burkett, P. J.

    2013-01-01

    Future planned sample return missions to carbon-rich asteroids and Mars in the next two decades will require strict handling and curation protocols as well as new procedures for reducing organic contamination. After the Apollo program, astromaterial collections have mainly been concerned with inorganic contamination [1-4]. However, future isolation containment systems for astromaterials, possibly nitrogen enriched gloveboxes, must be able to reduce organic and inorganic cross-contamination. In 2012, a baseline study was orchestrated to establish the current state of organic cleanliness in gloveboxes used by NASA JSC astromaterials curation labs that could be used as a benchmark for future mission designs.

  7. CSER 98-003: criticality safety evaluation report for PFP glovebox HC-21A with button can opening

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    ERICKSON, D.G.

    1999-01-01

    Glovebox HC-21A is an enclosure where cans containing plutonium metal buttons or other plutonium bearing materials are prepared for thermal stabilization in the muffle furnaces. The Inert Atmosphere Confinement (IAC), a new feature added to Glovebox HC-21 A, allows the opening of containers suspected of containing hydrided plutonium metal. The argon atmosphere in the IAC prevents an adverse reaction between oxygen and the hydride. The hydride is then stabilized in a controlled manner to prevent glovebox over pressurization. After removal from the containers, the plutonium metal buttons or plutonium bearing materials will be placed into muffle furnace boats and then be sent to one of the muffle furnace gloveboxes for stabilization. The materials allowed to be brought into Glovebox HC-21A are limited to those with a hydrogen to fissile atom ratio (H/X) ≤ 20. Glovebox HC-21A is classified as a DRY glovebox, meaning it has no internal liquid lines, and no free liquids or solutions are allowed to be introduced. The double contingency principle states that designs shall incorporate sufficient factors of safety to require at least two unlikely, independent, and concurrent changes in process conditions before a criticality accident is possible. This criticality safety evaluation report (CSER) shows that the operations to be performed in this glovebox are safe from a criticality standpoint. No single identified event that causes criticality controls to be lost exceeded the criticality safety limit of k eff = 0.95 (including uncertainties). Therefore, this CSER meets the requirements for a criticality analysis contained in the Hanford Site Nuclear Criticality Safety Manual, HNF-PRO-334, and meets the double contingency principle

  8. CSER 98-003: Criticality safety evaluation report for PFP glovebox HC-21A with button can opening

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    ERICKSON, D.G.

    1999-01-01

    Glovebox HC-21A is an enclosure where cans containing plutonium metal buttons or other plutonium bearing materials are prepared for thermal stabilization in the muffle furnaces. The Inert Atmosphere Confinement (IAC), a new feature added to Glovebox HC-21A, allows the opening of containers suspected of containing hydrided plutonium metal. The argon atmosphere in the IAC prevents an adverse reaction between oxygen and the hydride. The hydride is then stabilized in a controlled manner to prevent glovebox over pressurization. After removal from the containers, the plutonium metal buttons or plutonium bearing materials will be placed into muffle furnace boats and then be sent to one of the muffle furnace gloveboxes for stabilization. The materials allowed to be brought into GloveboxHC-21 A are limited to those with a hydrogen to fissile atom ratio (H/X) ≤ 20. Glovebox HC-21A is classified as a DRY glovebox, meaning it has no internal liquid lines, and no free liquids or solutions are allowed to be introduced. The double contingency principle states that designs shall incorporate sufficient factors of safety to require at least two unlikely, independent, and concurrent changes in process conditions before a criticality accident is possible. This criticality safety evaluation report (CSER) shows that the operations to be performed in this glovebox are safe from a criticality standpoint. No single identified event that causes criticality controls to be lost exceeded the criticality safety limit of k eff = 0.95. Therefore, this CSER meets the requirements for a criticality analysis contained in the Hanford Site Nuclear Criticality Safety Manual, HNF-PRO-334, and meets the double contingency principle

  9. Building 773-A, Lab F003 Glovebox Project Radiological Design Summary Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gaul, W.C.

    2003-01-01

    Engineering Standards present the radiological design criteria and requirements, which must be satisfied for all SRS facility designs. The radiological design criteria and requirements specified in the standard are based on the Code of Federal Regulations, DOE Orders, Site manuals, other applicable standards, and various DOE guides and handbooks. This report contains top-level requirements for the various areas of radiological protection for workers. For the purposes of demonstrating compliance with these requirements, the designer must examine the requirement for the design and either incorporate or provide a technical justification as to why the requirement is not incorporated. This document reports a radiological design review for the STREAK lab glovebox upgrades of inlet ventilation, additional mechanical and electrical services, new glovebox instrumentation and alarms. This report demonstrates that the gloveboxes meet the radiological design requirements of Engineering Standards

  10. Inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy glovebox assembly system at the West Valley Demonstration Project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marlow, J.H.; McCarthy, K.M.; Tamul, N.R.

    1999-01-01

    The inductively coupled plasma/atomic emission spectroscopy [ICP/AES (ICP)] system for elemental analyses in support of vitrification processing was first installed in 1986. The initial instrument was a Jobin Yvon (JY) Model JY-70 ICP that consisted of sequential and simultaneous spectrometers for analysis of nonradioactive samples as radioactive surrogates. The JY-70 ICP continued supporting nonradioactive testing during the Functional and Checkout Testing of Systems (FACTS) using the full-scale melter with ''cold'' (nonradioactive) testing campaigns. As a result, the need for another system was identified to allow for the analysis of radioactive samples. The Mass Spec (Spectrometry) Lab was established for the installation of the modified ICP system for handling radioactive samples. The conceptual setup of another ICP was predicated on the use of a hood to allow ease of accessibility of the torch, nebulizer, and spray chamber, and the minimization of air flow paths. However, reconsideration of the radioactive sample dose rate and contamination levels led to the configuration of the glovebox system with a common transfer interface box for the ICP and the inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer (ICP-MS) glovebox assemblies. As a result, a simultaneous Model JY-50P ICP with glovebox was installed in 1990 as a first generation ICP glovebox system. This was one of the first ICP glovebox assemblies connected with an ICP-MS glovebox system. Since the economics of processing high-level radioactive waste (HLW) required the availability of an instrument to operate 24 hours a day throughout the year without any downtime, a second generation ICP glovebox assembly was designed, manufactured, and installed in 1995 using a Model JY-46P ICP. These two ICP glovebox systems continue to support vitrification of the HLW into canisters for storage. The ICP systems have been instrumental in monitoring vitrification batch processing. To date, remote sample preparation and

  11. Modular glovebox connector and associated good practices for control of radioactive and chemically toxic materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hoover, M.D.; Mewhinney, C.J.; Newton, G.J.

    1999-01-01

    Design and associated good practices are described for a modular glovebox connector to improve control of radioactive and chemically toxic materials. The connector consists of an anodized aluminum circular port with a mating spacer, gaskets, and retaining rings for joining two parallel ends of commercially available or custom-manufactured glovebox enclosures. Use of the connector allows multiple gloveboxes to be quickly assembled or reconfigured in functional units. Connector dimensions can be scaled to meet operational requirements for access between gloveboxes. Options for construction materials are discussed, along with recommendations for installation of the connector in new or retrofitted systems. Associated good practices include application of surface coatings and caulking, use of disposable glovebags, and proper selection and protection of gasket and glove materials. Use of the connector at an inhalation toxicology research facility has reduced the time and expense required to reconfigure equipment for changing operational requirements, the dispersion of contamination during reconfigurations, and the need for decommissioning and disposal of contaminated enclosures

  12. HOLDUP MEASUREMENTS FOR VISUAL EXAMINATION GLOVEBOXES AT THE SAVANNAH RIVER SITE

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sigg, R

    2006-05-03

    Visual Examination (VE) gloveboxes are used at the Savannah River Site (SRS) to remediate transuranic waste (TRU) drums. Noncompliant items are removed before the drums undergo further characterization in preparation for shipment to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Maintaining the flow of drums through the remediation process is critical to the program's seven-days-per-week operation. Conservative assumptions are used to ensure that glovebox contamination from this continual operation is below acceptable limits. Holdup measurements are performed in order to confirm that these assumptions are conservative. High Cs-137 backgrounds in the VE glovebox areas preclude the use of a sodium iodide spectrometer, so a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector, having superior resolution, is used. Plutonium-239 is usually the nuclide of interest; however, Pu-241, Np-237 (including its daughter Pa-233) and Pu-238 (if detected) are typically assayed. Cs-137 and Co-60 may also be detected but are not reported since they do not contribute to the Pu-239 Fissile Gram Equivalent or Pu-239 Equivalent Curies. HEPA filters, drums and waste boxes are also assayed by the same methodology. If--for example--the HEPA is contained in a stainless steel housing, attenuation corrections must be applied for both the filter and the housing. Dimensions, detector locations, materials and densities are provided as inputs to Ortec's ISOTOPIC software to estimate attenuation and geometry corrections for the measurement positions. This paper discusses the methodology, results and limitations of these measurements for different VE glovebox configurations.

  13. Hands-on glovebox decommissioning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, D.

    1997-01-01

    Over recent years, the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA) has undertaken the decommissioning of a large number of Plutonium glove boxes at Winfrith Technology Centre. UKAEA has managed this work on behalf of the DTI, who funded most of the work. Most of the planning and practical work was contracted to AEA Technology (AEAT), which, until 1996, was the commercial arm of UKAEA, but is now a private company. More than 70 gloveboxes, together with internal plant and equipment such as ball mills, presses and furnaces, have been successfully size reduced into drums for storage, leaving the area, in which they were situated, in a clean condition. (UK)

  14. Improving Efficiency with 3-D Imaging: Technology Essential in Removing Plutonium Processing Equipment from Plutonium Finishing Plant Gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Crow, Stephen H.; Kyle, Richard N.; Minette, Michael J.

    2008-01-01

    The Plutonium Finishing Plant at Hanford, Washington began operations in 1949 to process plutonium and plutonium products. Its primary mission was to produce plutonium metal, fabricate weapons parts, and stabilize reactive materials. These operations, and subsequent activities, were performed in remote production lines, consisting primarily of hundreds of gloveboxes. Over the years these gloveboxes and processes have been continuously modified. The plant is currently inactive and Fluor Hanford has been tasked to clean out contaminated equipment and gloveboxes from the facility so it can be demolished in the near future. Approximately 100 gloveboxes at PFP have been cleaned out in the past four years and about 90 gloveboxes remain to be cleaned out. Because specific commitment dates for this work have been established with the State of Washington and other entities, it is important to adopt work practices that increase the safety and speed of this effort. The most recent work practice to be adopted by Fluor Hanford D and D workers is the use of 3-D models to improve the efficiency of cleaning out radioactive gloveboxes at the plant. The use of 3-D models has significantly improved the work planning process by providing workers with a clear image of glovebox construction and composition, which is then used to determine cleanout methods and work sequences. The 3-D visual products enhance safety by enabling workers to more easily identify hazards and implement controls. In addition, the ability to identify and target the removal of radiological materials early in the D and D process provides substantial dose reduction for the workers

  15. A human factors approach towards the design of a new glovebox glove for Los Alamos National Laboratory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oka, Jude M. [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2012-08-06

    Present day glovebox gloves at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are underdeveloped and ergonomically inaccurate. This problem results in numerous sprain and strain injuries every year for employees who perform glovebox work. In addition to injuries, using the current glovebox glove design also contributes to breaches and contamination. The current glove used today at LANL has several problems: (1) The length of the fingers is incorrect, (2) the web spacing between the fingers is nonexistent, (3) the angles between each digit on the finger are incorrect, (4) the thumb is placed inaccurately, and (5) the length of the hand is incorrect. These problems present a need to correct the current glove design to decrease the risk of injuries, breaches, and contamination. Anthropometrics were researched to help find the best range of hand measurements to fix the current glove design. Anthropometrics is the measure of the human physical variation. Anthropometrics for this study were gathered from the American National Survey (ANSUR) data that was conducted by the U.S Army in 1988. The current glovebox glove uses anthropometrics from the 95th to 105th percentile range which is too large so the new gloves are going to implement data from a smaller range of percentile groups. The 105th percentile range represents measurements that exceed the human population but are needed to fit certain circumstance such as wearing several under gloves within the glovebox gloves. Anthropometrics used in this study include: 105th percentile measurements for joint circumference which was unchanged because the room for under gloves plus ease of hand insertion and extraction is needed, 80th percentile measurements for crotch length to allow workers to reach the web spacing in the glove, 20th percentile measurements for finger length to allow workers to reach the end of the glove, standard 10.5cm hand breadth to allow more room to accommodate under gloves, 45 degrees abduction angle for the

  16. W-026, transuranic waste restricted waste management (TRU RWM) glovebox operational test report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leist, K.J.

    1998-02-18

    The TRU Waste/Restricted Waste Management (LLW/PWNP) Glovebox 401 is designed to accept and process waste from the Transuranic Process Glovebox 302. Waste is transferred to the glovebox via the Drath and Schraeder Bagless Transfer Port (DO-07401) on a transfer stand. The stand is removed with a hoist and the operator inspects the waste (with the aid of the Sampling and Treatment Director) to determine a course of action for each item. The waste is separated into compliant and non compliant. One Trip Port DO-07402A is designated as ``Compliant``and One Trip Port DO-07402B is designated as ``Non Compliant``. As the processing (inspection, bar coding, sampling and treatment) of the transferred items takes place, residue is placed in the appropriate One Trip port. The status of the waste items is tracked by the Data Management System (DMS) via the Plant Control System (PCS) barcode interface. As an item is moved for sampling or storage or it`s state altered by treatment, the Operator will track an items location using a portable barcode reader and entry any required data on the DMS console. The Operational Test Procedure (OTP) will perform evolutions (described here) using the Plant Operating Procedures (POP) in order to verify that they are sufficient and accurate for controlled glovebox operation.

  17. W-026, transuranic waste restricted waste management (TRU RWM) glovebox operational test report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leist, K.J.

    1998-01-01

    The TRU Waste/Restricted Waste Management (LLW/PWNP) Glovebox 401 is designed to accept and process waste from the Transuranic Process Glovebox 302. Waste is transferred to the glovebox via the Drath and Schraeder Bagless Transfer Port (DO-07401) on a transfer stand. The stand is removed with a hoist and the operator inspects the waste (with the aid of the Sampling and Treatment Director) to determine a course of action for each item. The waste is separated into compliant and non compliant. One Trip Port DO-07402A is designated as ''Compliant''and One Trip Port DO-07402B is designated as ''Non Compliant''. As the processing (inspection, bar coding, sampling and treatment) of the transferred items takes place, residue is placed in the appropriate One Trip port. The status of the waste items is tracked by the Data Management System (DMS) via the Plant Control System (PCS) barcode interface. As an item is moved for sampling or storage or it's state altered by treatment, the Operator will track an items location using a portable barcode reader and entry any required data on the DMS console. The Operational Test Procedure (OTP) will perform evolutions (described here) using the Plant Operating Procedures (POP) in order to verify that they are sufficient and accurate for controlled glovebox operation

  18. WRAP low level waste restricted waste management (LLW RWM) glovebox acceptance test report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Leist, K.J.

    1997-01-01

    On April 22, 1997, the Low Level Waste Restricted Waste Management (LLW RWM) glovebox was tested using acceptance test procedure 13027A-87. Mr. Robert L. Warmenhoven served as test director, Mr. Kendrick Leist acted as test operator and test witness, and Michael Lane provided miscellaneous software support. The primary focus of the glovebox acceptance test was to examine glovebox control system interlocks, operator Interface Unit (OIU) menus, alarms, and messages. Basic drum port and lift table control sequences were demonstrated. OIU menus, messages, and alarm sequences were examined, with few exceptions noted. Barcode testing was bypassed, due to the lack of installed equipment as well as the switch from basic reliance on fixed bar code readers to the enhanced use of portable bar code readers. Bar code testing was completed during performance of the LLW RWM OTP. Mechanical and control deficiencies were documented as Test Exceptions during performance of this Acceptance Test. These items are attached as Appendix A to this report

  19. Adaptation of a glow discharge mass spectrometer in a glove-box for the analysis of nuclear materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Betti, M.; Rasmussen, G.; Hiernaut, T.; Koch, L.

    1994-01-01

    A VG9000 glow discharge mass spectrometer has been modified for the direct analysis of solid nuclear samples within a glove-box environment. Because containment is needed for the analysis of this kind of material, the glove-box encloses all parts of the instrument that come into contact with the sample, namely the ion source chamber, sample interlock and associated pumping system. External modifications eliminate outside contamination by the fitting of absolute filters on all source supplies. Internally the design of the ion source has been altered to minimize the number of operations performed inside the glove-box thereby simplifying operation and routine maintenance. These modifications retain the ion extraction and focusing properties of the instrument. The data presented show that there is no compromise in the analytical performance of the instrument when placed in the glove-box. Data representative of nuclear materials is also shown. (Author)

  20. A technique for the assessment of the masses of residual plutonium in gloveboxes using thermoluminescent dosimeters

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Day, B.; Godward, D.F.

    1979-01-01

    A means of measuring the mass of residual plutonium in gloveboxes in the size range 1 to 10 m 3 has been developed using multiple thermoluminescent detectors. By optimising the location and the number of detectors, and by using suitable filtration, the mean response from them has been made insensitive to the distribution and the composition of the plutonium. It is possible to detect 10 g of plutonium in the largest glovebox considered. The measurement and mass estimation processes have been reduced to simple operations which can be carried out by skilled industrial staff. The routine application of the technique has been arranged to minimise disturbance to be production work going on in the gloveboxes by making unattended measurements during silent hours

  1. Dismantling techniques for plutonium-contaminated gloveboxes: experience from first year of decommissioning

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baumann, R.; Faber, P.

    2003-01-01

    At the mixed-oxide (MOX) processing facility formerly operated by ALKEM GmbH in Hanau, Germany - which was taken over to Siemens in 1988 and renamed Siemens' Hanau Fuel Fabrication Plant, MOX facility - around 8500 kg of plutonium were processed to make MOX fuel rods and fuel assemblies since production started in 1965. After shutdown of the facility by the authorities in mid-1991 for political reasons, the remaining nuclear fuel materials were processed during the subsequent ''cleanout'' phase starting in 1997 into rods and assemblies suitable for long-term storage. The last step in cleanout consisted of ''flushing'' the production equipment with depleted uranium and thoroughly cleaning the gloveboxes. During cleanout around 700 kg of plutonium were processed in the form of mixed oxides. The cleanout phase including the subsequent cleaning and flushing operations ended on schedule in September 2001 without any significant problems. Starting in mid-1999, the various glovebox dismantling techniques were tested using uncontaminated components while cleanout was still in progress and then, once these trials had been successfully completed, further qualified through use on actual components. The pilot-phase trials required four separate licenses under Section 7, Subsection (3) of the German Atomic Energy Act. Thanks to detailed advance planning and experience from the pilot trials the individual dismantling steps could be described in sufficient detail for the highly complex German licensing procedure. The first partial license for decommissioning the MOX facility under Sec. 7, Subsec. (3) of the Atomic Energy Act was issued on May 28, 2001. It mainly covers dismantling of the interior equipment inside the gloveboxes a well as the gloveboxes themselves. Actual decommissioning work inside the former production areas of the MOX facility started on a large scale in early September 2001. (orig.)

  2. Determination of an Ergonomically Sound Glovebox Glove Port Center Line

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Christman, Marissa St John [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2016-11-30

    Determine an ergonomic glovebox glove port center line location which will be used for standardization in new designs, thus allowing for predictable human work performance, reduced worker exposure to radiation and musculoskeletal injury risks, and improved worker comfort, efficiency, health, and safety.

  3. Determination of an Ergonomically Sound Glovebox Glove Port Center Line

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Christman, Marissa St; Land, Whitney Morgan

    2016-01-01

    Determine an ergonomic glovebox glove port center line location which will be used for standardization in new designs, thus allowing for predictable human work performance, reduced worker exposure to radiation and musculoskeletal injury risks, and improved worker comfort, efficiency, health, and safety.

  4. Preliminary evaluation of the electrapette for possible use in the glovebox for pipetting plutonium solutions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hansbury, E.; Ortiz, B.; Roybal, C.

    1990-12-01

    At the Los Alamos Laboratory Plutonium Facility, Solution Assay Instruments (SAIs) are used to provide real-time information on the plutonium (Pu) content of the process stream at various stages in the process. Much of the solution analysis must be carried and as a glovebox to protect the operator from radiation. In order to overcome some of the difficulties usually encountered when working in a glovebox, an electronic solution-volume measuring device called an Electrapette was ordered from Matrix Technologies Corporation. It is said to be highly accurate, simple to use, and can handle the 25 ml of solution required for SAI analyses. It is microprocessor-controlled and comes in two components connected by a detachable cable so that the electronic part can be installed outside the box, while the nosepiece is inside. The two pieces are connected through a plug-in on the glovebox wall. The Electrapette was tested in three sets of experiments: a cold'' lab set, a set run is a hood in a production building, and a third set run in a glovebox using a process solution whose density had been predetermined. The accuracy of the determination could not be determined because the samples had been mixed with other feed before being sent for analysis by the Electrapette. 2 refs., 5 tabs.

  5. Decontamination and decommissioning of 61 plutonium gloveboxes in D-Wing, Building 212 Argonne National Laboratory-East: Final project report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cheever, C.L.; Rose, R.W.

    1996-09-01

    Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL-E) is a government-owned, contractor operated, multipurpose research facility located 25 miles southwest of downtown Chicago on 689 hectares (1,700 acres) in DuPage County, Illinois, as shown in Figure 1.1. Building 212 is located in the central area of ANL-E, as shown in Figure 1.2. The purpose of this project was to eliminate the risk of radioactive material release from the contaminated glovebox systems and to make the laboratories available for unrestricted use. The following work objectives were established: (1) Identify and remove radioactive materials for return to ANL-E Special Materials control. (2) Remove and package the radioactively contaminated materials and equipment from the gloveboxes. (3) Decontaminate the gloveboxes to nontransuranic (non-TRU) levels. (4) Size-reduce and package the gloveboxes and support systems. (5) Document and dispose of the radioactive and mixed waste. (6) Decontaminate, survey, and release the nine laboratories and corridor areas for unrestricted use

  6. Microgravity Science Glovebox Aboard the International Space Station

    Science.gov (United States)

    2003-01-01

    In the Destiny laboratory aboard the International Space Station (ISS), European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Pedro Duque of Spain is seen working at the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG). He is working with the PROMISS experiment, which will investigate the growth processes of proteins during weightless conditions. The PROMISS is one of the Cervantes program of tests (consisting of 20 commercial experiments). The MSG is managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

  7. CSER 00-003: Criticality Safety Evaluation report for PFP Magnesium Hydroxide Precipitation Process for Plutonium Stabilization Glovebox 3

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    LAN, J.S.

    2000-01-01

    This Criticality Safety Evaluation Report analyzes the stabilization of plutonium/uranium solutions in Glovebox 3 using the magnesium hydroxide precipitation process at PFP. The process covered are the receipt of diluted plutonium solutions into three precipitation tanks, the precipitation of plutonium from the solution, the filtering of the plutonium precipitate from the solution, the scraping of the precipitate from the filter into boats, and the initial drying of the precipitated slurry on a hot plate. A batch (up to 2.5 kg) is brought into the glovebox as plutonium nitrate, processed, and is then removed in boats for further processing. This CSER establishes limits for the magnesium hydroxide precipitation process in Glovebox 3 to maintain criticality safety while handling fissionable material

  8. Low impact plutonium glovebox D&D

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rose, R.W.

    1995-12-31

    A dilemma often encountered in decontamination and decommissioning operations is the lack of choice as to the location where the work is to be performed. Facility siting, laboratory location, and adjacent support areas were often determined based on criteria, which while appropriate at the time, are not always the most conducive to a D&D project. One must learn to adapt and cope with as found conditions. High priority research activities, which cannot be interrupted, may be occurring in adjacent non-radiological facilities in the immediate vicinity where highly contaminated materials must be handled in the course of a D&D operation. The execution of a project within such an environment involves a high level of coordination, cooperation, professionalism and flexibility among the project, the work force and the surrounding occupants. Simply moving occupants from the potentially affected area is not always an option and much consideration must be given in the selection of the D&D methodology to be employed and the processes to be implemented. Determining project boundaries and the ensuring that adjacent occupants are included in the planning/scheduling of specific operations which impact their work area are important in the development of the safety envelope. Such was the case in the recent D&D of 61 gloveboxes contaminated with plutonium and other transuranic nuclides at the Argonne National Laboratory-East site. The gloveboxes, which were used in Department of Energy research and development program activities over the past 30 years, were decontaminated to below transuranic waste criteria, size reduced, packaged and removed from Building 212 by Argonne National Laboratory personnel in conjunction with Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. with essentially no impact to adjacent occupants.

  9. Light transmission and air used for inspection of glovebox gloves

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Castro, Julio M.; Steckle, Warren P. Jr.; Macdonald, John M.

    2002-01-01

    Various materials used for manufacturing the glovebox gloves are translucent material such as hypalon, rubbers, and neoprene. This means that visible light can be transmitted through the inside of the material. Performing this test can help to increase visualization of the integrity of the glove. Certain flaws such as pockmarks, foreign material, pinholes, and scratches could be detected with increased accuracy. An analysis was conducted of the glovebox gloves obscure polymer material using a inspection light table. The fixture is equipped with a central light supply and small air pump to inflate the glove and test for leak and stability. A glove is affixed to the fixture for 360-degree inspection. Certain inspection processes can be performed: (1) Inspection for pockmarks and thin areas within the gloves; (2) Observation of foreign material within the polymer matrix; and (3) Measurements could be taken for gloves thickness using light measurements. This process could help reduce eyestrain when examining gloves and making a judgment call on the size of material thickness in some critical areas. Critical areas are fingertips and crotch of fingers.

  10. Analysis of pressurization of plutonium oxide storage vials during a postulated fire

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Laurinat, J.; Kesterson, M.; Hensel, S.

    2015-02-10

    The documented safety analysis for the Savannah River Site evaluates the consequences of a postulated 1000 °C fire in a glovebox. The radiological dose consequences for a pressurized release of plutonium oxide powder during such a fire depend on the maximum pressure that is attained inside the oxide storage vial. To enable evaluation of the dose consequences, pressure transients and venting flow rates have been calculated for exposure of the storage vial to the fire. A standard B vial with a capacity of approximately 8 cc was selected for analysis. The analysis compares the pressurization rate from heating and evaporation of moisture adsorbed onto the plutonium oxide contents of the vial with the pressure loss due to venting of gas through the threaded connection between the vial cap and body. Tabulated results from the analysis include maximum pressures, maximum venting velocities, and cumulative vial volumes vented during the first 10 minutes of the fire transient. Results are obtained for various amounts of oxide in the vial, various amounts of adsorbed moisture, different vial orientations, and different surface fire exposures.

  11. Glovebox pressure relief and check valve

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Blaedel, K.L.

    1986-03-17

    This device is a combined pressure relief valve and check valve providing overpressure protection and preventing back flow into an inert atmosphere enclosure. The pressure relief is embodied by a submerged vent line in a mercury reservior, the releif pressure being a function of the submerged depth. The pressure relief can be vented into an exhaust system and the relieving pressure is only slightly influenced by the varying pressure in the exhaust system. The check valve is embodied by a ball which floats on the mercury column and contacts a seat whenever vacuum exists within the glovebox enclosure. Alternatively, the check valve is embodied by a vertical column of mercury, the maximum back pressure being a function of the height of the column of mercury.

  12. Glovebox pressure relief and check valve

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Blaedel, K.L.

    1986-01-01

    This device is a combined pressure relief valve and check valve providing overpressure protection and preventing back flow into an inert atmosphere enclosure. The pressure relief is embodied by a submerged vent line in a mercury reservior, the releif pressure being a function of the submerged depth. The pressure relief can be vented into an exhaust system and the relieving pressure is only slightly influenced by the varying pressure in the exhaust system. The check valve is embodied by a ball which floats on the mercury column and contacts a seat whenever vacuum exists within the glovebox enclosure. Alternatively, the check valve is embodied by a vertical column of mercury, the maximum back pressure being a function of the height of the column of mercury

  13. Historical fire regime and forest variability on two eastern Great Basin fire-sheds (USA)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanley G. Kitchen

    2012-01-01

    Proper management of naturally forested landscapes requires knowledge of key disturbance processes and their effects on species composition and structure. Spatially-intensive fire and forest histories provide valuable information about how fire and vegetation may vary and interact on heterogeneous landscapes. I constructed 800-year fire and tree recruitment...

  14. Procedure for hazards analysis of plutonium gloveboxes used in analytical chemistry operations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Delvin, W.L.

    1977-06-01

    A procedure is presented to identify and assess hazards associated with gloveboxes used for analytical chemistry operations involving plutonium. This procedure is based upon analytic tree methodology and it has been adapted from the US Energy Research and Development Administration's safety program, the Management Oversight and Risk Tree

  15. Low impact plutonium glovebox D ampersand D

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rose, R.W.

    1995-01-01

    A dilemma often encountered in decontamination and decommissioning operations is the lack of choice as to the location where the work is to be performed. Facility siting, laboratory location, and adjacent support areas were often determined based on criteria, which while appropriate at the time, are not always the most conducive to a D ampersand D project. One must learn to adapt and cope with as found conditions. High priority research activities, which cannot be interrupted, may be occurring in adjacent non-radiological facilities in the immediate vicinity where highly contaminated materials must be handled in the course of a D ampersand D operation. The execution of a project within such an environment involves a high level of coordination, cooperation, professionalism and flexibility among the project, the work force and the surrounding occupants. Simply moving occupants from the potentially affected area is not always an option and much consideration must be given in the selection of the D ampersand D methodology to be employed and the processes to be implemented. Determining project boundaries and the ensuring that adjacent occupants are included in the planning/scheduling of specific operations which impact their work area are important in the development of the safety envelope. Such was the case in the recent D ampersand D of 61 gloveboxes contaminated with plutonium and other transuranic nuclides at the Argonne National Laboratory-East site. The gloveboxes, which were used in Department of Energy research and development program activities over the past 30 years, were decontaminated to below transuranic waste criteria, size reduced, packaged and removed from Building 212 by Argonne National Laboratory personnel in conjunction with Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. with essentially no impact to adjacent occupants

  16. Virtual Glovebox (VGX) Aids Astronauts in Pre-Flight Training

    Science.gov (United States)

    2003-01-01

    NASA's Virtual Glovebox (VGX) was developed to allow astronauts on Earth to train for complex biology research tasks in space. The astronauts may reach into the virtual environment, naturally manipulating specimens, tools, equipment, and accessories in a simulated microgravity environment as they would do in space. Such virtual reality technology also provides engineers and space operations staff with rapid prototyping, planning, and human performance modeling capabilities. Other Earth based applications being explored for this technology include biomedical procedural training and training for disarming bio-terrorism weapons.

  17. Automation of Command and Data Entry in a Glovebox Work Volume: An Evaluation of Data Entry Devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steele, Marianne K.; Nakamura, Gail; Havens, Cindy; LeMay, Moira

    1996-01-01

    The present study was designed to examine the human-computer interface for data entry while performing experimental procedures within a glovebox work volume in order to make a recommendation to the Space Station Biological Research Project for a data entry system to be used within the Life Sciences Glovebox. Test subjects entered data using either a manual keypad, similar to a standard computer numerical keypad located within the glovebox work volume, or a voice input system using a speech recognition program with a microphone headset. Numerical input and commands were programmed in an identical manner between the two systems. With both electronic systems, a small trackball was available within the work volume for cursor control. Data, such as sample vial identification numbers, sample tissue weights, and health check parameters of the specimen, were entered directly into procedures that were electronically displayed on a video monitor within the glovebox. A pen and paper system with a 'flip-chart' format for procedure display, similar to that currently in use on the Space Shuttle, was used as a baseline data entry condition. Procedures were performed by a single operator; eight test subjects were used in the study. The electronic systems were tested under both a 'nominal' or 'anomalous' condition. The anomalous condition was introduced into the experimental procedure to increase the probability of finding limitations or problems with human interactions with the electronic systems. Each subject performed five test runs during a test day: two procedures each with voice and keypad, one with and one without anomalies, and one pen and paper procedure. The data collected were both quantitative (times, errors) and qualitative (subjective ratings of the subjects).

  18. NASA Virtual Glovebox: An Immersive Virtual Desktop Environment for Training Astronauts in Life Science Experiments

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twombly, I. Alexander; Smith, Jeffrey; Bruyns, Cynthia; Montgomery, Kevin; Boyle, Richard

    2003-01-01

    The International Space Station will soon provide an unparalleled research facility for studying the near- and longer-term effects of microgravity on living systems. Using the Space Station Glovebox Facility - a compact, fully contained reach-in environment - astronauts will conduct technically challenging life sciences experiments. Virtual environment technologies are being developed at NASA Ames Research Center to help realize the scientific potential of this unique resource by facilitating the experimental hardware and protocol designs and by assisting the astronauts in training. The Virtual GloveboX (VGX) integrates high-fidelity graphics, force-feedback devices and real- time computer simulation engines to achieve an immersive training environment. Here, we describe the prototype VGX system, the distributed processing architecture used in the simulation environment, and modifications to the visualization pipeline required to accommodate the display configuration.

  19. Operational considerations for the Space Station Life Science Glovebox

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rasmussen, Daryl N.; Bosley, John J.; Vogelsong, Kristofer; Schnepp, Tery A.; Phillips, Robert W.

    1988-01-01

    The U.S. Laboratory (USL) module on Space Station will house a biological research facility for multidisciplinary research using living plant and animal specimens. Environmentally closed chambers isolate the specimen habitats, but specimens must be removed from these chambers during research procedures as well as while the chambers are being cleaned. An enclosed, sealed Life Science Glovebox (LSG) is the only locale in the USL where specimens can be accessed by crew members. This paper discusses the key science, engineering and operational considerations and constraints involving the LSG, such as bioisolation, accessibility, and functional versatility.

  20. Coal-fired generation

    CERN Document Server

    Breeze, Paul

    2015-01-01

    Coal-Fired Generation is a concise, up-to-date and readable guide providing an introduction to this traditional power generation technology. It includes detailed descriptions of coal fired generation systems, demystifies the coal fired technology functions in practice as well as exploring the economic and environmental risk factors. Engineers, managers, policymakers and those involved in planning and delivering energy resources will find this reference a valuable guide, to help establish a reliable power supply address social and economic objectives. Focuses on the evolution of the traditio

  1. Effects of glovebox gloves on grip and key pinch strength and contact forces for simulated manual operations with three commonly used hand tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sung, Peng-Cheng

    2014-01-01

    This study examined the effects of glovebox gloves for 11 females on maximum grip and key pinch strength and on contact forces generated from simulated tasks of a roller, a pair of tweezers and a crescent wrench. The independent variables were gloves fabricated of butyl, CSM/hypalon and neoprene materials; two glove thicknesses; and layers of gloves worn including single, double and triple gloving. CSM/hypalon and butyl gloves produced greater grip strength than the neoprene gloves. CSM/hypalon gloves also lowered contact forces for roller and wrench tasks. Single gloving and thin gloves improved hand strength performances. However, triple layers lowered contact forces for all tasks. Based on the evaluating results, selection and design recommendations of gloves for three hand tools were provided to minimise the effects on hand strength and optimise protection of the palmar hand in glovebox environments. To improve safety and health in the glovebox environments where gloves usage is a necessity, this study provides recommendations for selection and design of glovebox gloves for three hand tools including a roller, a pair of tweezers and a crescent wrench based on the results discovered in the experiments.

  2. Resuspension of uranium-plutonium oxide particles from burning Plexiglas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pickering, S.

    1987-01-01

    Nuclear fuel materials such as Uranium-Plutonium oxide must be handled remotely in gloveboxes because of their radiotoxicity. These gloveboxes are frequently constructed largely of combustible Plexiglas sheet. To estimate the potential airborne spread of radioactive contamination in the event of a glovebox fire, the resuspension of particles from burning Plexiglas was investigated. (author)

  3. A new glove-box system for a high-pressure tritium pump

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wilson, S.W.; Borree, R.J.; Chambers, D.I.; Chang, Y.; Merrill, J.T.; Souers, P.C.; Wiggins, R.K.

    1988-01-01

    A new glove-box system that was designed around a high-pressure tritium pump is described. The system incorporates new containment ideas such as ''burpler'' passive pressure controls, valves that can be turned from outside the box, inflatable door seals, ferro-fluidic motor-shaft seals, and rapid box-to-hood conversion during cryostaging. Currently under construction, the system will contain nine separate sections with automatic pressure-balancing and venting systems. 3 refs., 5 figs

  4. Object-oriented process dose modeling for glovebox operations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boerigter, S.T.; Fasel, J.H.; Kornreich, D.E.

    1999-01-01

    The Plutonium Facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory supports several defense and nondefense-related missions for the country by performing fabrication, surveillance, and research and development for materials and components that contain plutonium. Most operations occur in rooms with one or more arrays of gloveboxes connected to each other via trolley gloveboxes. Minimizing the effective dose equivalent (EDE) is a growing concern as a result of steadily declining allowable dose limits being imposed and a growing general awareness of safety in the workplace. In general, the authors discriminate three components of a worker's total EDE: the primary EDE, the secondary EDE, and background EDE. A particular background source of interest is the nuclear materials vault. The distinction between sources inside and outside of a particular room is arbitrary with the underlying assumption that building walls and floors provide significant shielding to justify including sources in other rooms in the background category. Los Alamos has developed the Process Modeling System (ProMoS) primarily for performing process analyses of nuclear operations. ProMoS is an object-oriented, discrete-event simulation package that has been used to analyze operations at Los Alamos and proposed facilities such as the new fabrication facilities for the Complex-21 effort. In the past, crude estimates of the process dose (the EDE received when a particular process occurred), room dose (the EDE received when a particular process occurred in a given room), and facility dose (the EDE received when a particular process occurred in the facility) were used to obtain an integrated EDE for a given process. Modifications to the ProMoS package were made to utilize secondary dose information to use dose modeling to enhance the process modeling efforts

  5. Dismantling of a furnace and gloveboxes of a U3O8 with 20% enrichment production line

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yorio, Daniel; Cinat, Enrique; Cincotta, Daniel; Fernandez, Carlos A.; Bruno, Hernan R.; Camacho, Esteban F.; Boero, Norma

    1999-01-01

    In the Uranium Powder Manufacturing Plant at CAC, U 3 O 8 with 20% enrichment is manufactured for fuel plates to be used in test reactors. This plant is in full operation since 1986, producing uranium oxide for Peru, Algeria, Iran, Egypt and the RA-3-CAE reactors. Some of the equipment of the Plant have finished their life time and one of the furnaces of the processing line had to be replaced. This work implied the dismantling not only of the furnace, but also of the gloveboxes connected to the furnace and the dismantling of the extraction lines and air injection of the gloveboxes. The work had to be performed with the necessary care in order to minimize risks and effects on personnel, installations and environment involved. (author)

  6. Equipping a glovebox for waste form testing and characterization of plutonium bearing materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noy, M.; Johnson, S.G.; Moschetti, T.L.

    1997-01-01

    The recent decision by the Department of Energy to pursue a hybrid option for the disposition of weapons plutonium has created the need for additional facilities that can examine and characterize waste forms that contain Pu. This hybrid option consists of the placement of plutonium into stable waste forms and also into mixed oxide fuel for commercial reactors. Glass and glass-ceramic waste forms have a long history of being effective hosts for containing radionuclides, including plutonium. The types of tests necessary to characterize the performance of candidate waste forms include: static leaching experiments on both monolithic and crushed waste forms, microscopic examination, and density determination. Frequently, the respective candidate waste forms must first be produced using elevated temperatures and/or high pressures. The desired operations in the glovebox include, but are not limited to the following: (1) production of vitrified/sintered samples, (2) sampling of glass from crucibles or other vessels, (3) preparing samples for microscopic inspection and monolithic and crushed static leach tests, and (4) performing and analyzing leach tests in situ. This paper will describe the essential equipment and modifications that are necessary to successfully accomplish the goal of outfitting a glovebox for these functions

  7. Glovebox design requirements for molten salt oxidation processing of transuranic waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramsey, K.B.; Acosta, S.V.; Wernly, K.D.

    1998-01-01

    This paper presents an overview of potential technologies for stabilization of 238 Pu-contaminated combustible waste. Molten salt oxidation (MSO) provides a method for removing greater than 99.999% of the organic matrix from combustible waste. Implementation of MSO processing at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Plutonium Facility will eliminate the combustible matrix from 238 Pu-contaminated waste and consequently reduce the cost of TRU waste disposal operations at LANL. The glovebox design requirements for unit operations including size reduction and MSO processing will be presented

  8. The Virtual GloveboX (VGX: a Semi-immersive Virtual Environment for Training Astronauts in Life Sciences Experiments

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    I. Alexander Twombly

    2004-06-01

    Full Text Available The International Space Station will soon provide an unparalleled research facility for studying the near- and longer-term effects of microgravity on living systems. Using the Space Station Glovebox Facility - a compact, fully contained reach-in environment - astronauts will conduct technically challenging life sciences experiments. Virtual environment technologies are being developed at NASA Ames Research Center to help realize the scientific potential of this unique resource by facilitating the experimental hardware and protocol designs and by assisting the astronauts in training. The "Virtual GloveboX" (VGX integrates high-fidelity graphics, force-feedback devices and real-time computer simulation engines to achieve an immersive training environment. Here, we describe the prototype VGX system, the distributed processing architecture used in the simulation environment, and modifications to the visualization pipeline required to accommodate the display configuration.

  9. Glovebox design requirements for molten salt oxidation processing of transuranic waste

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ramsey, K.B.; Acosta, S.V. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States); Wernly, K.D. [Molten Salt Oxidation Corp., Bensalem, PA (United States)

    1998-12-31

    This paper presents an overview of potential technologies for stabilization of {sup 238}Pu-contaminated combustible waste. Molten salt oxidation (MSO) provides a method for removing greater than 99.999% of the organic matrix from combustible waste. Implementation of MSO processing at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Plutonium Facility will eliminate the combustible matrix from {sup 238}Pu-contaminated waste and consequently reduce the cost of TRU waste disposal operations at LANL. The glovebox design requirements for unit operations including size reduction and MSO processing will be presented.

  10. Sodium fire suppression

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malet, J.C.

    1979-01-01

    Ignition and combustion studies have provided valuable data and guidelines for sodium fire suppression research. The primary necessity is to isolate the oxidant from the fuel, rather than to attempt to cool the sodium below its ignition temperature. Work along these lines has led to the development of smothering tank systems and a dry extinguishing powder. Based on the results obtained, the implementation of these techniques is discussed with regard to sodium fire suppression in the Super-Phenix reactor. (author)

  11. Sodium fire suppression

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Malet, J C [DSN/SESTR, Centre de Cadarache, Saint-Paul-lez-Durance (France)

    1979-03-01

    Ignition and combustion studies have provided valuable data and guidelines for sodium fire suppression research. The primary necessity is to isolate the oxidant from the fuel, rather than to attempt to cool the sodium below its ignition temperature. Work along these lines has led to the development of smothering tank systems and a dry extinguishing powder. Based on the results obtained, the implementation of these techniques is discussed with regard to sodium fire suppression in the Super-Phenix reactor. (author)

  12. Fire debris analysis for forensic fire investigation using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, Soojin; Yoh, Jack J.

    2017-08-01

    The possibility verification of the first attempt to apply LIBS to arson investigation was performed. LIBS has capabilities for real time in-situ analysis and depth profiling. It can provide valuable information about the fire debris that are complementary to the classification of original sample components and combustion residues. In this study, fire debris was analyzed to determine the ignition source and existence of a fire accelerant using LIBS spectra and depth profiling analysis. Fire debris chemical composition and carbon layer thickness determines the possible ignition source while the carbon layer thickness of combusted samples represents the degree of sample carbonization. When a sample is combusted with fire accelerants, a thicker carbon layer is formed because the burning rate is increased. Therefore, depth profiling can confirm the existence of combustion accelerants, which is evidence of arson. Also investigation of fire debris by depth profiling is still possible when a fire is extinguished with water from fire hose. Such data analysis and in-situ detection of forensic signals via the LIBS may assist fire investigation at crime scenes.

  13. Design and fabrication of a glovebox for the Plasma Hearth Process radioactive bench-scale system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wahlquist, D.R.

    1996-01-01

    This paper presents some of the design considerations and fabrication techniques for building a glovebox for the Plasma Hearth Process (PHP) radioactive bench-scale system. The PHP radioactive bench-scale system uses a plasma torch to process a variety of radioactive materials into a final vitrified waste form. The processed waste will contain plutonium and trace amounts of other radioactive materials. The glovebox used in this system is located directly below the plasma chamber and is called the Hearth Handling Enclosure (HHE). The HHE is designed to maintain a confinement boundary between the processed waste and the operator. Operations that take place inside the HHE include raising and lowering the hearth using a hydraulic lift table, transporting the hearth within the HHE using an overhead monorail and hoist system, sampling and disassembly of the processed waste and hearth, weighing the hearth, rebuilding a hearth, and sampling HEPA filters. The PHP radioactive bench-scale system is located at the TREAT facility at Argonne National Laboratory-West in Idaho Falls, Idaho

  14. A project in two parts: Developing fire histories for the eastern U.S. and creating a climate-based continental fire frequency model to fill data gaps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richard Guyette; Michael Stambaugh; Daniel. Dey

    2011-01-01

    Tree-ring dated fire scars provide long-term records of fire frequency, giving land managers valuable baseline information about the fire regimes that existed prior to Euro-American settlement. However, for the East, fire history data prove difficult to acquire because the generally moister climate of the region causes rapid decay of wood. In an endeavor to fill data...

  15. Supporting FIRE-suppression strategies combining fire spread MODelling and SATellite data in an operational context in Portugal: the FIRE-MODSAT project

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sá, Ana C. L.; Benali, Akli; Pinto, Renata M. S.; Pereira, José M. C.; Trigo, Ricardo M.; DaCamara, Carlos C.

    2014-05-01

    Large wildfires are infrequent but account for the most severe environmental, ecological and socio-economic impacts. In recent years Portugal has suffered the impact of major heat waves that fuelled records of burnt area exceeding 400.000ha and 300.000ha in 2003 and 2005, respectively. According to the latest IPCC reports, the frequency and amplitude of summer heat waves over Iberia will very likely increase in the future. Therefore, most climate change studies point to an increase in the number and extent of wildfires. Thus, an increase in both wildfire impacts and fire suppression difficulties is expected. The spread of large wildfires results from a complex interaction between topography, meteorology and fuel properties. Wildfire spread models (e.g. FARSITE) are commonly used to simulate fire growth and behaviour and are an essential tool to understand their main drivers. Additionally, satellite active-fire data have been used to monitor the occurrence, extent, and spread of wildfires. Both satellite data and fire spread models provide different types of information about the spatial and temporal distribution of large wildfires and can potentially be used to support strategic decisions regarding fire suppression resource allocation. However, they have not been combined in a manner that fully exploits their potential and minimizes their limitations. A knowledge gap still exists in understanding how to minimize the impacts of large wildfires, leading to the following research question: What can we learn from past large wildfires in order to mitigate future fire impacts? FIRE-MODSAT is a one-year funded project by the Portuguese Foundation for the Science and Technology (FCT) that is founded on this research question, with the main goal of improving our understanding on the interactions between fire spread and its environmental drivers, to support fire management decisions in an operational context and generate valuable information to improve the efficiency of the

  16. Fire behavior simulation in Mediterranean forests using the minimum travel time algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kostas Kalabokidis; Palaiologos Palaiologou; Mark A. Finney

    2014-01-01

    Recent large wildfires in Greece exemplify the need for pre-fire burn probability assessment and possible landscape fire flow estimation to enhance fire planning and resource allocation. The Minimum Travel Time (MTT) algorithm, incorporated as FlamMap's version five module, provide valuable fire behavior functions, while enabling multi-core utilization for the...

  17. Dismantling techniques for plutonium-contaminated gloveboxes: experience from first year of decommissioning; Zerlegungstechniken fuer Pu-kontaminierte Handschuhkaesten: Erfahrungsbericht nach einem Jahr Rueckbau

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Baumann, R.; Faber, P. [Siemens Power Generation, Decommissioning Projects, Hanau (Germany)

    2003-07-01

    At the mixed-oxide (MOX) processing facility formerly operated by ALKEM GmbH in Hanau, Germany - which was taken over to Siemens in 1988 and renamed Siemens' Hanau Fuel Fabrication Plant, MOX facility - around 8500 kg of plutonium were processed to make MOX fuel rods and fuel assemblies since production started in 1965. After shutdown of the facility by the authorities in mid-1991 for political reasons, the remaining nuclear fuel materials were processed during the subsequent ''cleanout'' phase starting in 1997 into rods and assemblies suitable for long-term storage. The last step in cleanout consisted of ''flushing'' the production equipment with depleted uranium and thoroughly cleaning the gloveboxes. During cleanout around 700 kg of plutonium were processed in the form of mixed oxides. The cleanout phase including the subsequent cleaning and flushing operations ended on schedule in September 2001 without any significant problems. Starting in mid-1999, the various glovebox dismantling techniques were tested using uncontaminated components while cleanout was still in progress and then, once these trials had been successfully completed, further qualified through use on actual components. The pilot-phase trials required four separate licenses under Section 7, Subsection (3) of the German Atomic Energy Act. Thanks to detailed advance planning and experience from the pilot trials the individual dismantling steps could be described in sufficient detail for the highly complex German licensing procedure. The first partial license for decommissioning the MOX facility under Sec. 7, Subsec. (3) of the Atomic Energy Act was issued on May 28, 2001. It mainly covers dismantling of the interior equipment inside the gloveboxes a well as the gloveboxes themselves. Actual decommissioning work inside the former production areas of the MOX facility started on a large scale in early September 2001. (orig.)

  18. CSER 00-008 use of PFP Glovebox HC-18BS for Storage and Transport of Fissionable Material

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    ERICKSON, D.G.

    2000-01-01

    This CSER addresses the feasibility of increasing the allowed number of open containers and permitting the transfer and storage of fissionable material in Glovebox HC-18BS without regard to form or density (metal, oxide having an H/X (le) 20, material having unrestricted moderation and plutonium hydroxide having a plutonium density of 0.2 g/cm 3 )

  19. Strategy for decommissioning of the glove-boxes in the Belgonucleaire Dessel MOX fuel fabrication plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vandergheynst, Alain; Cuchet, Jean-Marie

    2007-01-01

    Available in abstract form only. Full text of publication follows: BELGONUCLEAIRE has been operating the Dessel plant from the mid-80's at industrial scale. In this period, over 35 metric tons of plutonium (HM) was processed into almost 100 reloads of MOX fuel for commercial West-European Light Water Reactors. In late 2005, the decision was made to stop the production because of the shortage of MOX fuel market remaining accessible to BELGONUCLEAIRE after the successive capacity increases of the MELOX plant (France) and the commissioning of the SMP plant (UK). As a significant part of the decommissioning project of this Dessel plant, about 170 medium-sized glove-boxes are planned for dismantling. In this paper, after having reviewed the different specifications of ±-contaminated waste in Belgium, the authors introduce the different options considered for cleaning, size reduction and packaging of the glove-boxes, and the main decision criteria (process, α-containment, mechanization and radiation protection, safety aspects, generation of secondary waste, etc) are analyzed. The selected strategy consists in using cold cutting techniques and manual operation in shielded disposable glove-tents, and packaging α-waste in 200-liter drums for off-site conditioning and intermediate disposal. (authors)

  20. Computer modeling for optimal placement of gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hench, K.W.; Olivas, J.D.; Finch, P.R.

    1997-08-01

    Reduction of the nuclear weapons stockpile and the general downsizing of the nuclear weapons complex has presented challenges for Los Alamos. One is to design an optimized fabrication facility to manufacture nuclear weapon primary components (pits) in an environment of intense regulation and shrinking budgets. Historically, the location of gloveboxes in a processing area has been determined without benefit of industrial engineering studies to ascertain the optimal arrangement. The opportunity exists for substantial cost savings and increased process efficiency through careful study and optimization of the proposed layout by constructing a computer model of the fabrication process. This paper presents an integrative two- stage approach to modeling the casting operation for pit fabrication. The first stage uses a mathematical technique for the formulation of the facility layout problem; the solution procedure uses an evolutionary heuristic technique. The best solutions to the layout problem are used as input to the second stage - a computer simulation model that assesses the impact of competing layouts on operational performance. The focus of the simulation model is to determine the layout that minimizes personnel radiation exposures and nuclear material movement, and maximizes the utilization of capacity for finished units

  1. Computer modeling for optimal placement of gloveboxes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hench, K.W.; Olivas, J.D. [Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States); Finch, P.R. [New Mexico State Univ., Las Cruces, NM (United States)

    1997-08-01

    Reduction of the nuclear weapons stockpile and the general downsizing of the nuclear weapons complex has presented challenges for Los Alamos. One is to design an optimized fabrication facility to manufacture nuclear weapon primary components (pits) in an environment of intense regulation and shrinking budgets. Historically, the location of gloveboxes in a processing area has been determined without benefit of industrial engineering studies to ascertain the optimal arrangement. The opportunity exists for substantial cost savings and increased process efficiency through careful study and optimization of the proposed layout by constructing a computer model of the fabrication process. This paper presents an integrative two- stage approach to modeling the casting operation for pit fabrication. The first stage uses a mathematical technique for the formulation of the facility layout problem; the solution procedure uses an evolutionary heuristic technique. The best solutions to the layout problem are used as input to the second stage - a computer simulation model that assesses the impact of competing layouts on operational performance. The focus of the simulation model is to determine the layout that minimizes personnel radiation exposures and nuclear material movement, and maximizes the utilization of capacity for finished units.

  2. Implementation of a spark plasma sintering facility in a hermetic glovebox for compaction of toxic, radiotoxic, and air sensitive materials

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tyrpekl, V., E-mail: vaclav.tyrpekl@ec.europa.eu, E-mail: vaclav.tyrpekl@gmail.com; Berkmann, C.; Holzhäuser, M.; Köpp, F.; Cologna, M.; Somers, J. [European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), Postfach 2340, 76125 Karlsruhe (Germany); Wangle, T. [European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Transuranium Elements (ITU), Postfach 2340, 76125 Karlsruhe (Germany); Faculty of Nuclear Sciences and Physical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Břehová 7, Praha 1, 115 19 (Czech Republic)

    2015-02-15

    Spark plasma sintering (SPS) is a rapidly developing method for densification of powders into compacts. It belongs to the so-called “field assisted sintering techniques” that enable rapid sintering at much lower temperatures than the classical approaches of pressureless sintering of green pellets or hot isostatic pressing. In this paper, we report the successful integration of a SPS device into a hermetic glovebox for the handling of highly radioactive material containing radioisotopes of U, Th, Pu, Np, and Am. The glovebox implantation has been facilitated by the replacement of the hydraulic system to apply pressure with a compact electromechanical unit. The facility has been successfully tested using UO{sub 2} powder. Pellets with 97% of the theoretical density were obtained at 1000 °C for 5 min, significantly lower than the ∼1600 °C for 5-10 h used in conventional pellet sintering.

  3. Glovebox glove deterioration in the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory fuel fabrication facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greenhalgh, W.O.; Smith, R.C.; Powell, D.L.

    1979-07-01

    Neoprene glovebox gloves have been found susceptible to periodic rapid deterioration under normal operating conditions in fuel fabrication facilities. Examinations of glove failure histories and measurements of the atmospheres in inert atmosphere dry-boxes indicated ozone at low concentrations of 100 to 500 ppB was probably the most important factor in rapid glove deterioration. Testing of a varity of new glove materials indicated that Hypalon and ethylene-propylene-diamine monomer (EDPM) gloves have greater than 30 times the longevity of neoprene in low-level ozone concentration atmospheres. comparative tests over a 30-month period have also confirmed that the two glove candidates have a significantly longer operative life. 14 figures

  4. Combined use of weather forecasting and satellite remote sensing information for fire risk, fire and fire impact monitoring

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wolfgang Knorr

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The restoration of fire-affected forest areas needs to be combined with their future protection from renewed catastrophic fires, such as those that occurred in Greece during the 2007 summer season. The present work demonstrates that the use of various sources of satellite data in conjunction with weather forecast information is capable of providing valuable information for the characterization of fire danger with the purpose of protecting the Greek national forest areas. This study shows that favourable meteorological conditions have contributed to the fire outbreak during the days of the unusually damaging fires in Peloponnese as well as Euboia (modern Greek: Evia at the end of August 2007. During those days, Greece was located between an extended high pressure system in Central Europe and a low pressure system in the Middle East. Their combination resulted in strong north-northeasterly winds in the Aegean Sea. As a consequence, strong winds were also observed in the regions of Evia and Peloponnese, especially in mountainous areas. The analysis of satellite images showing smoke emitted from the fires corroborates the results from the weather forecasts. A further analysis using the Fraction of Absorbed Photosyntetically Active Radiation (FAPAR as an indicator of active vegetation shows the extent of the destruction caused by the fire. The position of the burned areas coincides with that of the active fires detected in the earlier satellite image. Using the annual maximum FAPAR as an indicator of regional vegetation density, it was found that only regions with relatively high FAPAR were burned.

  5. In-Situ Leak Testing And Replacement Of Glovebox Isolator, Or Containment Unit Gloves

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro, Julio M.; Macdonald, John M.; Steckle, Jr., Warren P.

    2004-11-02

    A test plug for in-situ testing a glove installed in a glovebox is provided that uses a top plate and a base plate, and a diametrically expandable sealing mechanism fitting between the two plates. The sealing mechanism engages the base plate to diametrically expand when the variable distance between the top plate and the bottom plate is reduced. An inlet valve included on the top plate is used to introducing a pressurized gas to the interior of the glove, and a pressure gauge located on the top plate is used to monitor the interior glove pressure.

  6. Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Space Science's Past, Present, and Future on the International Space Station (ISS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spivey, Reggie A.; Spearing, Scott F.; Jordan, Lee P.; McDaniel S. Greg

    2012-01-01

    The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a double rack facility designed for microgravity investigation handling aboard the International Space Station (ISS). The unique design of the facility allows it to accommodate science and technology investigations in a "workbench" type environment. MSG facility provides an enclosed working area for investigation manipulation and observation in the ISS. Provides two levels of containment via physical barrier, negative pressure, and air filtration. The MSG team and facilities provide quick access to space for exploratory and National Lab type investigations to gain an understanding of the role of gravity in the physics associated research areas. The MSG is a very versatile and capable research facility on the ISS. The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) on the International Space Station (ISS) has been used for a large body or research in material science, heat transfer, crystal growth, life sciences, smoke detection, combustion, plant growth, human health, and technology demonstration. MSG is an ideal platform for gravity-dependent phenomena related research. Moreover, the MSG provides engineers and scientists a platform for research in an environment similar to the one that spacecraft and crew members will actually experience during space travel and exploration. The MSG facility is ideally suited to provide quick, relatively inexpensive access to space for National Lab type investigations.

  7. Application of fire and evacuation models in evaluation of fire safety in railway tunnels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cábová, Kamila; Apeltauer, Tomáš; Okřinová, Petra; Wald, František

    2017-09-01

    The paper describes an application of numerical simulation of fire dynamics and evacuation of people in a tunnel. The software tool Fire Dynamics Simulator is used to simulate temperature resolution and development of smoke in a railway tunnel. Comparing to temperature curves which are usually used in the design stage results of the model show that the numerical model gives lower temperature of hot smoke layer. Outputs of the numerical simulation of fire also enable to improve models of evacuation of people during fires in tunnels. In the presented study the calculated high of smoke layer in the tunnel is in 10 min after the fire ignition lower than the level of 2.2 m which is considered as the maximal limit for safe evacuation. Simulation of the evacuation process in bigger scale together with fire dynamics can provide very valuable information about important security conditions like Available Safe Evacuation Time (ASET) vs Required Safe Evacuation Time (RSET). On given example in software EXODUS the paper summarizes selected results of evacuation model which should be in mind of a designer when preparing an evacuation plan.

  8. Fire effects on Gambel oak in southwestern ponderosa pine-oak forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott R. Abella; Peter Z. Fulé

    2008-01-01

    Gambel oak (Quercus gambelii) is ecologically and aesthetically valuable in southwestern ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) forests. Fire effects on Gambel oak are important because fire may be used in pine-oak forests to manage oak directly or to accomplish other management objectives. We used published literature to: (1) ascertain...

  9. Perspective methods of fire and explosion protection of 'Ukrytie' object

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zakhmatov, V.D.; Potikha, V.M.; Shkarabura, N.G.

    1999-01-01

    There are 5 atomic power stations in Ukraine-Chernobyl, Zaporozhe, Rivne, Khmelnytsk, Yuzhnoukrainsk. Fire statistics on them: 1993 - 5 fires, 1994 - 2, 1995 - 2, 1996 - 3, 1997-98 no fires. The most valuable unique experience, accumulated in Ukraine, -is extinguishing of different fires, arising in the radioactive zone. There were the following kinds of fires: burning roof of the 4-th bloc; forest fires; fires in cable tunnels; spilled oil in wrecked constructions and buildings. Professional impulse fire-extinguisher is one of the most perspective developments. These fire-extinguishers have high power, range and scale of action. They are universal: able to solve different tasks in extinguishing, to decontaminate, for group and individual light and heat protection, for preventing explosions of dust and gas of up to 50 m 3 volume and in the open space

  10. CSER 99-001: PFP LAB Dentirating calciner

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    MILLER, E.M.; DOBBIN, K.D.

    1999-01-01

    A criticality safety evaluation report was prepared for the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) laboratory denigrating calciner, located in Glovebox 188-1, that converts Pu(NO 3 ) 4 solutions to the high fired stable oxide PuO 2 . Fissile mass limits and volume limits are set for the glovebox for testing operations and training operators using only nitric acid feed to a plutonium oxide bed in the calciner

  11. CSER 99-002: CSER for unrestricted moderation of sludge material with two-boat operations in gloveboxes HC-21A and HC-21C

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    LAN, J.S.

    1999-01-01

    This Criticality Safety Evaluation Report was prepared by Fluor Daniel Northwest under contract to BWHC. This document establishes the criticality safety parameters for unrestricted moderation of Sludge material with two-boat operations in gloveboxes HC-21A and HC-21C

  12. Web service tools in the era of forest fire management and elimination

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poursanidis, Dimitris; Kochilakis, Giorgos; Chrysoulakis, Nektarios; Varella, Vasiliki; Kotroni, Vassiliki; Eftychidis, Giorgos; Lagouvardos, Kostas

    2014-10-01

    Wildfires in forests and forested areas in South Europe, North America, Central Asia and Australia are a diachronic threat with crucial ecological, economic and social impacts. Last decade the frequency, the magnitude and the intensity of fires have increased even more because of the climate change. An efficient response to such disasters requires an effective planning, with an early detection system of the ignition area and an accurate prediction of fire propagation to support the rapid response mechanisms. For this reason, information systems able to predict and visualize the behavior of fires, are valuable tools for fire fighting. Such systems, able also to perform simulations that evaluate the fire development scenarios, based on weather conditions, become valuable Decision Support Tools for fire mitigation planning. A Web-based Information System (WIS) developed in the framework of the FLIRE (Floods and fire risk assessment and management) project, a LIFE+ co-funded by the European Commission research, is presented in this study. The FLIRE WIS use forest fuel maps which have been developed by using generalized fuel maps, satellite data and in-situ observations. Furthermore, it leverages data from meteorological stations and weather forecast from numerical models to feed the fire propagation model with the necessary for the simulations inputs and to visualize the model's results for user defined time periods and steps. The user has real-time access to FLIRE WIS via any web browser from any platform (PC, Laptop, Tablet, Smartphone).

  13. Scattering profiles of sparks and combustibility of filter against hot sparks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asazuma, Shinichiro; Okada, Takashi; Kashiro, Kashio

    2004-01-01

    The glove-box dismantling facility in the Plutonium Fuel Production Facility is developed to dismantle after-service glove-boxes with remote-controlled devices such as an arm-type manipulator. An abrasive wheel cutter, which is used to size reduce the gloveboxes, generates sparks during operation. This dispersing spark was a problem from the fire prevention point of view. A suitable spark control measures for this operation were required. We developed panels to minimize spark dispersion, shields to prevent the income of sparks to the pre-filter, and incombustible pre-filters. The equipment was tested and effectiveness was confirmed. This report provides the results of these tests. (author)

  14. Glovebox-contained forty-millimeter gun system for the study of one-dimensional shock waves in toxic materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Honodel, C.A.

    1975-01-01

    A new gun system is being constructed at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory for studies of the behavior of toxic materials under shock-loaded conditions. Due to the extreme toxicity of some materials, such as plutonium, the entire gun system must be enclosed in gloveboxes. Some of the experimental requirements that affected the design of the system, various diagnostic techniques that will be employed with the system, and some details of the final design that is presently under assembly are presented

  15. Using satellite fire detection to calibrate components of the fire weather index system in Malaysia and Indonesia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dymond, Caren C; Field, Robert D; Roswintiarti, Orbita; Guswanto

    2005-04-01

    Vegetation fires have become an increasing problem in tropical environments as a consequence of socioeconomic pressures and subsequent land-use change. In response, fire management systems are being developed. This study set out to determine the relationships between two aspects of the fire problems in western Indonesia and Malaysia, and two components of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System. The study resulted in a new method for calibrating components of fire danger rating systems based on satellite fire detection (hotspot) data. Once the climate was accounted for, a problematic number of fires were related to high levels of the Fine Fuel Moisture Code. The relationship between climate, Fine Fuel Moisture Code, and hotspot occurrence was used to calibrate Fire Occurrence Potential classes where low accounted for 3% of the fires from 1994 to 2000, moderate accounted for 25%, high 26%, and extreme 38%. Further problems arise when there are large clusters of fires burning that may consume valuable land or produce local smoke pollution. Once the climate was taken into account, the hotspot load (number and size of clusters of hotspots) was related to the Fire Weather Index. The relationship between climate, Fire Weather Index, and hotspot load was used to calibrate Fire Load Potential classes. Low Fire Load Potential conditions (75% of an average year) corresponded with 24% of the hotspot clusters, which had an average size of 30% of the largest cluster. In contrast, extreme Fire Load Potential conditions (1% of an average year) corresponded with 30% of the hotspot clusters, which had an average size of 58% of the maximum. Both Fire Occurrence Potential and Fire Load Potential calibrations were successfully validated with data from 2001. This study showed that when ground measurements are not available, fire statistics derived from satellite fire detection archives can be reliably used for calibration. More importantly, as a result of this work, Malaysia and

  16. Real time forest fire warning and forest fire risk zoning: a Vietnamese case study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, T.; Pham, D.; Phung, T.; Ha, A.; Paschke, M.

    2016-12-01

    potential risk, the more chance of fire happen. By adding spatial factors to continuous daily updated remote sensing based meteo-data, results are valuable for both mapping forest fire risk zones in short and long-term and real time fire warning in Vietnam. Key words: Near-real-time, forest fire warning, fuzzy regression model, remote sensing.

  17. Literature study regarding fire protection in nuclear power plants. Part I: Fire rated separations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isaksson, S.

    1995-06-01

    This literature study has been made on behalf of the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate. The aim is to describe different aspects of fire protection in nuclear power plants. Conventional building codes can not give guidance on where to make fire rated separations in order to separate redundant trains of safety systems. The separation must originate in functional demands from the authorities on what functions are essential during and after a fire, and under what circumstances these functions shall be retained, i.e. the number of independent faults and initiating events. As a basic demand it is suggested to rate the strength of separations according to conventional building code, based on fire load. The whole separating construction shall have the same fire rating, including the ventilation system. Deviations from the basic demand can de done in case it can be proven that it is possible to compensate some or all of the fire rating with other measures. There is a general lack of statistical information regarding the reliability of fire separating constructions such as walls, fire doors, penetration seals and fire dampers. The amount of cables penetrating a seal is in many cases much higher in real installations than what has been tested for type approval. It would therefore be valuable to perform a furnace test with a more representative amount of cables passing through a penetration seal. Tests have shown that the 20 foot horizontal separation distance stipulated by NRC is not a guarantee against fire damage. Spatial separations based on general requirements shall not be allowed, but considered from case to case based on actual circumstances. For fire protection by isolation or coatings, it is of great importance to choose the method of protection carefully, to be compatible with the material it shall be applied on, and the environment and types of fire that may occur. 48 refs, 2 figs, 5 tabs

  18. Fire effects on soils: the human dimension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santín, Cristina; Doerr, Stefan H

    2016-06-05

    Soils are among the most valuable non-renewable resources on the Earth. They support natural vegetation and human agro-ecosystems, represent the largest terrestrial organic carbon stock, and act as stores and filters for water. Mankind has impacted on soils from its early days in many different ways, with burning being the first human perturbation at landscape scales. Fire has long been used as a tool to fertilize soils and control plant growth, but it can also substantially change vegetation, enhance soil erosion and even cause desertification of previously productive areas. Indeed fire is now regarded by some as the seventh soil-forming factor. Here we explore the effects of fire on soils as influenced by human interference. Human-induced fires have shaped our landscape for thousands of years and they are currently the most common fires in many parts of the world. We first give an overview of fire effect on soils and then focus specifically on (i) how traditional land-use practices involving fire, such as slash-and-burn or vegetation clearing, have affected and still are affecting soils; (ii) the effects of more modern uses of fire, such as fuel reduction or ecological burns, on soils; and (iii) the ongoing and potential future effects on soils of the complex interactions between human-induced land cover changes, climate warming and fire dynamics.This article is part of the themed issue 'The interaction of fire and mankind'. © 2016 The Author(s).

  19. An open-walled ionization chamber appropriate to tritium monitoring for glovebox

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chen Zhilin; Chang Ruiming; Mu Long; Song Guoyang; Wang Heyi; Wu Guanyin; Wei Xiye

    2010-01-01

    An open-walled ionization chamber is developed to monitor the tritium concentration in gloveboxes in tritium processing systems. Two open walls are used to replace the sealed wall in common ionization chambers, through which the tritium gas can diffuse into the chamber without the aid of pumps and pipelines. Some basic properties of the chamber are examined to evaluate its performance. Results turn out that an open-walled chamber of 1 l in volume shows a considerably flat plateau over 700 V for a range of tritium concentration. The chamber also gives a good linear response to gamma fields over 4 decades under a pressure condition of 1 atm. The pressure dependence characteristics show that the ionization current is only sensitive at low pressures. The pressure influence becomes weaker as the pressure increases mainly due to the decrease in the mean free path of β particles produced by tritium decay. The minimum detection limit of the chamber is 3.7x10 5 Bq/m 3 .

  20. Repeated fire effects on soil physical properties in two young longleaf pine stands on the west gulf coastal plain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mary Anne Sword Sayer

    2007-01-01

    Repeated prescribed fire is a valuable tool for the management of longleaf and loblolly pine. When applied every two to ten years, for example, prescribed fire perpetuates existing longleaf pine ecosystems (Outcalt 1997). Furthermore, the acceptance of fire as a management tool, together with recent improvements in longleaf pine...

  1. Fire protection in the nuclear power plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takuma, Masao

    1977-01-01

    According to the publication by US NRC, 32 fires have occurred in the nuclear power stations in operation, but most of them were small fire, and did not affect the safety of the nuclear power stations. The largest fire was that which occurred in the Browns Ferry Nuclear Power Station of TVA, USA, in March, 1976. It did not jeopardize the safety of the reactor facilities, and the leak of radioactive substance did not occur at all. But the investigation was made extensively by the joint committee of both houses, the government and others, and the deficiency in the countermeasures to fire was found, and it was clarified that some revision would by required on the standard applied heretofore. It was the valuable experience for improving further the safety of nuclear power stations. The fire occurred by the ignition of the polyurethane for sealing cable penetrations due to candle flame for testing. About 1600 cables were burned. When fire breaks out in a nuclear power station, it is necessary to stop and cool the reactor without fail, and to prevent the leak of radioactive substances definitely. In case of the fire in Browns Ferry, these requirements were fulfilled satisfactorily. The countermeasures on the basis of the experience in Browns Ferry and the design of the counterplan to fire in nuclear power stations are explained. (Kako, I.)

  2. Measurement of trace emissions and combustion characteristics for a mass fire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Susott, R.A.; Ward, D.E.; Babbitt, R.E.; Latham, D.J.

    1991-01-01

    Results are presented of a continuing study of research that was started in 1988. A new sampling system was designed to provide fire dynamics data from within the fire. This chapter describes the sampling system, the measurements it provided on one biomass fire, and some valuable parameters that can be calculated such as emission factors, combustion efficiency, and rate of fuel consumption. The large prescribed fire in Ontario, Canada, provided a practical test of this package that can be used to assess the application of the monitoring concept to a broad range of biomass fires. Measurements of wind vectors, temperature, and emissions of CO 2 , CO and particulates are reported for a 40-minute period from ignition through the critical period of maximum release of heat to the near extinction of the smoldering combustion phase

  3. Simulating smoke transport from wildland fires with a regional-scale air quality model: sensitivity to spatiotemporal allocation of fire emissions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia-Menendez, Fernando; Hu, Yongtao; Odman, Mehmet T

    2014-09-15

    Air quality forecasts generated with chemical transport models can provide valuable information about the potential impacts of fires on pollutant levels. However, significant uncertainties are associated with fire-related emission estimates as well as their distribution on gridded modeling domains. In this study, we explore the sensitivity of fine particulate matter concentrations predicted by a regional-scale air quality model to the spatial and temporal allocation of fire emissions. The assessment was completed by simulating a fire-related smoke episode in which air quality throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area was affected on February 28, 2007. Sensitivity analyses were carried out to evaluate the significance of emission distribution among the model's vertical layers, along the horizontal plane, and into hourly inputs. Predicted PM2.5 concentrations were highly sensitive to emission injection altitude relative to planetary boundary layer height. Simulations were also responsive to the horizontal allocation of fire emissions and their distribution into single or multiple grid cells. Additionally, modeled concentrations were greatly sensitive to the temporal distribution of fire-related emissions. The analyses demonstrate that, in addition to adequate estimates of emitted mass, successfully modeling the impacts of fires on air quality depends on an accurate spatiotemporal allocation of emissions. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Long-term impacts of prescribed fire on stand structure, growth, mortality, and individual tree vigor in Pinus resinosa forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sawyer S. Scherer; Anthony W. D' Amato; Christel C. Kern; Brian J. Palik; Matthew B. Russell

    2016-01-01

    Prescribed fire is increasingly being viewed as a valuable tool for mitigating the ecological consequences of long-term fire suppression within fire-adapted forest ecosystems. While the use of burning treatments in northern temperate conifer forests has at times received considerable attention, the long-term (>10 years) effects on forest structure and...

  5. Methods for Prediction of Temperature Distribution in Flashover Caused by Backdraft Fire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guowei Zhang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Accurately predicting temperature distribution in flashover fire is a key issue for evacuation and fire-fighting. Now many good flashover fire experiments have be conducted, but most of these experiments are proceeded in enclosure with fixed openings; researches on fire development and temperature distribution in flashover caused by backdraft fire did not receive enough attention. In order to study flashover phenomenon caused by backdraft fire, a full-scale fire experiment was conducted in one abandoned office building. Process of fire development and temperature distribution in room and corridor were separately recorded during the experiment. The experiment shows that fire development in enclosure is closely affected by the room ventilation. Unlike existing temperature curves which have only one temperature peak, temperature in flashover caused by backdraft may have more than one peak value and that there is a linear relationship between maximum peak temperature and distance away from fire compartment. Based on BFD curve and experimental data, mathematical models are proposed to predict temperature curve in flashover fire caused by backdraft at last. These conclusions and experiment data obtained in this paper could provide valuable reference to fire simulation, hazard assessment, and fire protection design.

  6. Influence of fire frequency on Colophospermum mopane and Combretum apiculatum woodland structure and composition in northern Gonarezhou National Park, Zimbabwe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edson Gandiwa

    2009-06-01

    Conservation implication: This study provides valuable information on fire frequency effects on woody vegetation in northern GNP, which can be used in fire management programmes for the park. The positive relationship between annual rainfall and annual area burnt emphasises the need for wildlife managers to consider annual rainfall in fire management.

  7. Management impacts on fire occurrence: A comparison of fire regimes of African and South American tropical savannas in different protected areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alvarado, Swanni T; Silva, Thiago Sanna Freire; Archibald, Sally

    2018-07-15

    Humans can alter fire dynamics in grassland systems by changing fire frequency, fire seasonality and fuel conditions. These changes have effects on vegetation structure and recovery, species composition, and ecosystem function. Understanding how human management can affect fire regimes is vital to detect potential changes in the resilience of plant communities, and to predict vegetation responses to human interventions. We evaluated the fire regimes of two recently protected areas in Madagascar (Ibity and Itremo NPA) and one in Brazil (Serra do Cipó NP) before and after livestock exclusion and fire suppression policies. We compare the pre- and post-management fire history in these areas and analyze differences in terms of total annual burned area, density of ignitions, burn scar size distribution, fire return period and seasonal fire distribution. More than 90% of total park areas were burned at least once during the studied period, for all parks. We observed a significant reduction in the number of ignitions for Ibity NPA and Serra do Cipó NP after livestock exclusion and active fire suppression, but no significant change in total burned area for each protected area. We also observed a seasonal shift in burning, with fires happening later in the fire season (October-November) after management intervention. However, the protected areas in Madagascar had shorter fire return intervals (3.23 and 1.82 years) than those in Brazil (7.91 years). Our results demonstrate that fire exclusion is unattainable, and probably unwarranted in tropical grassland conservation areas, but show how human intervention in fire and vegetation patterns can alter various aspects of the fire regimes. This information can help with formulating realistic and effective fire management policies in these valuable conservation areas. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. CSER 01-008 Canning of Thermally Stabilized Plutonium Oxide Powder in PFP Glovebox HC-21A

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    ERICKSON, D.G.

    2001-01-01

    This document presents the analysis performed to support the canning operation in HC-21A. Most of the actual analysis was performed for the operation in HC-18M and HA-20MB, and is documented in HNF-2707 Rev I a (Erickson 2001a). This document will reference Erickson (2001a) as necessary to support the operation in HC-21A. The plutonium stabilization program at the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) uses heat to convert plutonium-bearing materials into dry powder that is chemically stable for long term storage. The stabilized plutonium is transferred into one of several gloveboxes for the canning process, Gloveboxes HC-18M in Room 228'2, HA-20MB in Room 235B, and HC-21A in Room 230B are to be used for this process. This document presents the analysis performed to support the canning operation in HC-21A. Most of the actual analysis was performed for the operation in HC-I8M and HA-20MB, and is documented in HNF-2707 Rev l a (Erickson 2001a). This document will reference Erickson (2001a) as necessary to support the operation in HC-21A. Evaluation of this operation included normal, base cases, and contingencies. The base cases took the normal operations for each type of feed material and added the likely off-normal events. Each contingency is evaluated assuming the unlikely event happens to the conservative base case. Each contingency was shown to meet the double contingency requirement. That is, at least two unlikely, independent, and concurrent changes in process conditions are required before a criticality is possible

  9. Use of simulation to examine operational scenarios in a lathe glovebox for the processing of nuclear materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McQueen, M.; Ashok, P.; Cox, D.J.; Pittman, P.C.; Turner, C.J.; Hollen, R.M.

    2001-01-01

    In the process of dispositioning nuclear materials into storage, the use of a robot eliminates the safety risks to humans and increases productivity. The current process of processing typically uses humans to handle the hazardous material using gloves through glove-ports. This process is not only dangerous, but also costly, because humans can only be subjected to limited exposure to nuclear materials due to the actual Occupational Radiation Exposure (ORE) and thus have a fixed amount of dedicated workload per unit time. Use of robotics reduces ORE to humans and increases productivity. The Robotics Research Group at the University of Texas at Austin has created a simulation model of a conceptual application that uses a robot inside the glovebox to handle hazardous materials for lathe machining process operations in cooperation with Los Alamos National Laboratories (LANL). The actions of the robot include preparing the parts for entry into the box, weighing the parts, positioning the parts into the headstock chuck of the lathe, handling the subsequent processed parts, changing and replacing the lathe tools and chuck assemblies are necessary to process the material. The full three-dimensional geometric model of the simulation demonstrates the normal expected operation from beginning to end and verifies the path plans for the robot. The emphasis of this paper is to report additional findings from the simulation model, which is currently being expanded to include failure mode analysis, error recovery, and other what-if scenarios involved in unexpected, or unplanned, operation of the robot and lathe process inside of the glovebox.

  10. Fire and earthquake counter measures in radiation handling facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1985-01-01

    'Fire countermeasures in radiation handling facilities' published in 1961 is still widely utilized as a valuable guideline for those handling radiation through the revision in 1972. However, science and technology rapidly advanced, and the relevant laws were revised after the publication, and many points which do not conform to the present state have become to be found. Therefore, it was decided to rewrite this book, and the new book has been completed. The title was changed to 'Fire and earthquake countermeasures in radiation handling facilities', and the countermeasures to earthquakes were added. Moreover, consideration was given so that the book is sufficiently useful also for those concerned with fire fighting, not only for those handling radiation. In this book, the way of thinking about the countermeasures against fires and earthquakes, the countermeasures in normal state and when a fire or an earthquake occurred, the countermeasures when the warning declaration has been announced, and the data on fires, earthquakes, the risk of radioisotopes, fire fighting equipment, the earthquake counter measures for equipment, protectors and radiation measuring instruments, first aid, the example of emergency system in radiation handling facilities, the activities of fire fighters, the example of accidents and so on are described. (Kako, I.)

  11. Device Assembly Facility (DAF) Glovebox Radioactive Waste Characterization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dominick, J L

    2001-01-01

    The Device Assembly Facility (DAF) at the Nevada Test Site (NTS) provides programmatic support to the Joint Actinide Shock Physics Experimental Research (JASPER) Facility in the form of target assembly. The target assembly activities are performed in a glovebox at DAF and include Special Nuclear Material (SNM). Currently, only activities with transuranic SNM are anticipated. Preliminary discussions with facility personnel indicate that primarily two distributions of SNM will be used: Weapons Grade Plutonium (WG-Pu), and Pu-238 enhanced WG-Pu. Nominal radionuclide distributions for the two material types are included in attachment 1. Wastes generated inside glove boxes is expected to be Transuranic (TRU) Waste which will eventually be disposed of at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP). Wastes generated in the Radioactive Material Area (RMA), outside of the glove box is presumed to be low level waste (LLW) which is destined for disposal at the NTS. The process knowledge quantification methods identified herein may be applied to waste generated anywhere within or around the DAF and possibly JASPER as long as the fundamental waste stream boundaries are adhered to as outlined below. The method is suitable for quantification of waste which can be directly surveyed with the Blue Alpha meter or swiped. An additional quantification methodology which requires the use of a high resolution gamma spectroscopy unit is also included and relies on the predetermined radionuclide distribution and utilizes scaling to measured nuclides for quantification

  12. Fire, humans and landscape. Is there a connection?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Valese, Eva; Ascoli, Davide; Conedera, Marco; Held, Alex

    2013-04-01

    Fire evolved on the earth under the direct influence of climate and the accumulation of burnable biomass at various times and spatial scales. As a result, fire regimes depend not only on climatic and biological factors, but also greatly reflect the cultural background of how people do manage ecosystems and fire. A new awareness among scientists and managers has been rising about the ecological role of fire and the necessity to understand its past natural and cultural dynamics in different ecosystems, in order to preserve present ecosystem functionality and minimize management costs and negative impacts. As a consequence we assisted in the last decades to a general shift from the fire control to the fire management approach, where fire prevention, fire danger rating, fire ecology, fire pre-suppression and suppression strategies are fully integrated in the landscape management. Nowadays, a large number of authors recognize that a total suppression strategy, as the one adopted during last decades, leads to a fire paradox: the more we fight for putting out all fires, the more extreme events occur and cause long term damages. The aim of this review is to provide a state of art about the connection between fire, humans and landscape, along time and space. Negative and positive impacts on ecosystem services and values are put in evidence, as well as their incidence on human aptitude to fire use as to fire suppression. In order to capture a consistent fragment of fire history, palaeofires and related palynological studies are considered. They enable a valuable, even if partial, look at the millenary fire regime. Actual strategies and future directions are described in order to show what are the alternatives for living with fire, since removing completely this disturbance from earth is not a option, nor feasible neither advisable. Examples from the world, in particular from the Alps and the Mediterranean basin, are shown for better illustrating the signature of

  13. Coal fires in Indonesia

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Whitehouse, Alfred E.; Mulyana, Asep A.S. [Office of Surface Mining/Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Coal Fire Project, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Agency for Training and Education, Jl. Gatot Subroto, Kav. 49, Jakarta 12950 (Indonesia)

    2004-07-12

    Indonesia's fire and haze problem is increasingly being ascribed to large-scale forest conversion and land clearing activities making way for pulpwood, rubber and oil palm plantations. Fire is the cheapest tool available to small holders and plantation owners to reduce vegetation cover and prepare and fertilize extremely poor soils. Fires that escaped from agricultural burns have ravaged East Kalimantan forests on the island of Borneo during extreme drought periods in 1982-1983, 1987, 1991, 1994 and 1997-1998. Estimates based on satellite data and ground observations are that more than five million hectares were burned in East Kalimantan during the 1997/1998 dry season. Not only were the economic losses and ecological damage from these surface fires enormous, they ignited coal seams exposed at the ground surface along their outcrops.Coal fires now threaten Indonesia's shrinking ecological resources in Kutai National Park and Sungai Wain Nature Reserve. Sungai Wain has one of the last areas of unburned primary rainforest in the Balikpapan-Samarinda area with an extremely rich biodiversity. Although fires in 1997/1998 damaged nearly 50% of this Reserve and ignited 76 coal fires, it remains the most valuable water catchment area in the region and it has been used as a reintroduction site for the endangered orangutan. The Office of Surface Mining provided Indonesia with the capability to take quick action on coal fires that presented threats to public health and safety, infrastructure or the environment. The US Department of State's Southeast Asia Environmental Protection Initiative through the US Agency for International Development funded the project. Technical assistance and training transferred skills in coal fire management through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource's Training Agency to the regional offices; giving the regions the long-term capability to manage coal fires. Funding was also included to extinguish coal fires as

  14. Pattern formation and firing synchronization in networks of map neurons

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang Qingyun; Duan Zhisheng; Huang Lin; Chen Guanrong; Lu Qishao

    2007-01-01

    Patterns and collective phenomena such as firing synchronization are studied in networks of nonhomogeneous oscillatory neurons and mixtures of oscillatory and excitable neurons, with dynamics of each neuron described by a two-dimensional (2D) Rulkov map neuron. It is shown that as the coupling strength is increased, typical patterns emerge spatially, which propagate through the networks in the form of beautiful target waves or parallel ones depending on the size of networks. Furthermore, we investigate the transitions of firing synchronization characterized by the rate of firing when the coupling strength is increased. It is found that there exists an intermediate coupling strength; firing synchronization is minimal simultaneously irrespective of the size of networks. For further increasing the coupling strength, synchronization is enhanced. Since noise is inevitable in real neurons, we also investigate the effects of white noise on firing synchronization for different networks. For the networks of oscillatory neurons, it is shown that firing synchronization decreases when the noise level increases. For the missed networks, firing synchronization is robust under the noise conditions considered in this paper. Results presented in this paper should prove to be valuable for understanding the properties of collective dynamics in real neuronal networks

  15. Behaviour of concrete structures in fire

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fletcher Ian A.

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper provides a "state-of-the-art" review of research into the effects of high temperature on concrete and concrete structures, extending to a range of forms of construction, including novel developments. The nature of concrete-based structures means that they generally perform very well in fire. However, concrete is fundamentally a complex material and its properties can change dramatically when exposed to high temperatures. The principal effects of fire on concrete are loss of compressive strength, and spalling - the forcible ejection of material from the surface of a member. Though a lot of information has been gathered on both phenomena, there remains a need for more systematic studies of the effects of thermal exposures. The response to realistic fires of whole concrete structures presents yet greater challenges due to the interactions of structural elements, the impact of complex small-scale phenomena at full scale, and the spatial and temporal variations in exposures, including the cooling phase of the fire. Progress has been made on modeling the thermomechanical behavior but the treatment of detailed behaviors, including hygral effects and spalling, remains a challenge. Furthermore, there is still a severe lack of data from real structures for validation, though some valuable insights may also be gained from study of the performance of concrete structures in real fires. .

  16. Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), Space Science's Past, Present and Future Aboard the International Space Station (ISS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spivey, Reggie; Spearing, Scott; Jordan, Lee

    2012-01-01

    The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a double rack facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS), which accommodates science and technology investigations in a "workbench' type environment. The MSG has been operating on the ISS since July 2002 and is currently located in the US Laboratory Module. In fact, the MSG has been used for over 10,000 hours of scientific payload operations and plans to continue for the life of ISS. The facility has an enclosed working volume that is held at a negative pressure with respect to the crew living area. This allows the facility to provide two levels of containment for small parts, particulates, fluids, and gases. This containment approach protects the crew from possible hazardous operations that take place inside the MSG work volume and allows researchers a controlled pristine environment for their needs. Research investigations operating inside the MSG are provided a large 255 liter enclosed work space, 1000 watts of dc power via a versatile supply interface (120, 28, + 12, and 5 Vdc), 1000 watts of cooling capability, video and data recording and real time downlink, ground commanding capabilities, access to ISS Vacuum Exhaust and Vacuum Resource Systems, and gaseous nitrogen supply. These capabilities make the MSG one of the most utilized facilities on ISS. MSG investigations have involved research in cryogenic fluid management, fluid physics, spacecraft fire safety, materials science, combustion, and plant growth technologies. Modifications to the MSG facility are currently under way to expand the capabilities and provide for investigations involving Life Science and Biological research. In addition, the MSG video system is being replaced with a state-of-the-art, digital video system with high definition/high speed capabilities, and with near real-time downlink capabilities. This paper will provide an overview of the MSG facility, a synopsis of the research that has already been accomplished in the MSG, and an

  17. 46 CFR 28.820 - Fire pumps, fire mains, fire hydrants, and fire hoses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fire pumps, fire mains, fire hydrants, and fire hoses... REQUIREMENTS FOR COMMERCIAL FISHING INDUSTRY VESSELS Aleutian Trade Act Vessels § 28.820 Fire pumps, fire mains, fire hydrants, and fire hoses. (a) Each vessel must be equipped with a self-priming, power driven fire...

  18. Prediction of dose and field mapping around a shielded plutonium fuel fabrication glovebox

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strode, J.N.; Soldat, K.L.; Brackenbush, L.W.

    1984-01-01

    Westinghouse Hanford Company, as the Department of Energy's (DOE) prime contractor for the operation of the Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory (HEDL), is responsible for the development of the Secure Automated Fabrication (SAF) Line which is to be installed in the recently constructed Fuels and Materials Examination Facility (FMEF). The SAF Line will fabricate mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel pins for the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF) at an annual throughput rate of six (6) metric tons (MT) of MOX. The SAF Line will also demonstrate the automated manufacture of fuel pins on a production-scale. This paper describes some of the techniques used to reduce personnel exposure on the SAF Line, as well as the prediction and field mapping of doses from a shielded fuel fabrication glovebox. Tables are also presented from which exposure rate estimates can be made for plutonium recovered from fuels having different isotopic compositions as a result of varied burnup

  19. Evaluation of Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG) and Multi-Purpose Crew Restraint Concepts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whitmore, Mihriban

    2005-01-01

    Within the scope of the Multi-purpose Crew Restraints for Long Duration Spaceflights project, funded by Code U, it was proposed to conduct a series of evaluations on the ground and on the KC-135 to investigate the human factors issues concerning confined/unique workstations, such as the design of crew restraints. The usability of multiple crew restraints was evaluated for use with the Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG) and for performing general purpose tasks. The purpose of the KC-135 microgravity evaluation was to: (1) to investigate the usability and effectiveness of the concepts developed, (2) to gather recommendations for further development of the concepts, and (3) to verify the validity of the existing requirements. Some designs had already been tested during a March KC-135 evaluation, and testing revealed the need for modifications/enhancements. This flight was designed to test the new iterations, as well as some new concepts. This flight also involved higher fidelity tasks in the LSG, and the addition of load cells on the gloveports.

  20. 46 CFR 28.315 - Fire pumps, fire mains, fire hydrants, and fire hoses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 46 Shipping 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fire pumps, fire mains, fire hydrants, and fire hoses... After September 15, 1991, and That Operate With More Than 16 Individuals on Board § 28.315 Fire pumps, fire mains, fire hydrants, and fire hoses. (a) Each vessel 36 feet (11.8 meters) or more in length must...

  1. Fossil fuel-fired power generation. Case studies of recently constructed coal- and gas-fired plants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Henderson, C. [IEA Clean Coal Centre, London (United Kingdom)

    2007-10-23

    To meet future energy demand growth and replace older or inefficient units, a large number of fossil fuel-fired plants will be required to be built worldwide in the next decade. Yet CO{sub 2} emissions from fossil-fired power generation are a major contributor to climate change. As a result, new plants must be designed and operated at highest efficiency both to reduce CO{sub 2} emissions and to facilitate deployment of CO{sub 2} capture and storage in the future. The series of case studies in this report, which respond to a request to the IEA from the G8 Summit in July 2005, were conducted to illustrate what efficiency is achieved now in modern plants in different parts of the world using different grades of fossil fuels. The plants were selected from different geographical areas, because local factors influence attainable efficiency. The case studies include pulverized coal combustion (PCC) with both subcritical and supercritical (very high pressure and temperature) steam turbine cycles, a review of current and future applications of coal-fuelled integrated gasification combined cycle plants (IGCC), and a case study of a natural gas fired combined cycle plant to facilitate comparisons. The results of these analyses show that the technologies for high efficiency (low CO{sub 2} emission) and very low conventional pollutant emissions (particulates, SO{sub 2}, NOx) from fossil fuel-fired power generation are available now through PCC, IGCC or NGCC at commercially acceptable cost. This report contains comprehensive technical and indicative cost information for modern fossil fuel-fired plants that was previously unavailable. It serves as a valuable sourcebook for policy makers and technical decision makers contemplating decisions to build new fossil fuel-fired power generation plants.

  2. Fire impact and assessment of post-fire actions of a typical Mediterranean forest from SW Spain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiménez-González, Marco A.; María De la Rosa, José; Jiménez-Morillo, Nicasio T.; Zavala, Lorena M.; Knicker, Heike

    2015-04-01

    of vegetation and litter, as the input of charred residues may contribute to increase the total amount of soil organic matter. The post-fire removal of vegetation probably contributed to an additional loss of soil material due to an increase of the erosion risk. In addition, preliminary results point out that the burnt soil is not being recovered to the pre-fire conditions at a molecular level neither in the elemental composition. Results of this study will constitute a valuable tool for stake holders and decision makers to avoid additional alterations caused by post fire management of fire affected forests.

  3. Fire resistance of prefabricated monolithic slab

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gravit Marina

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available A prefabricated monolithic slab (PMS has a number of valuable advantages, they allow to significantly decrease the weight of construction keeping the necessary structural-load capacity, to speed up and cheapen work conduction, to increase the heat isolating properties of an enclosure structure [1]. In order to create a design method of prefabricated monolithic slab fire-resistance, it's necessary to perform a series of PMS testing, one of which is being described in this article. Subjected to the test is a fragment of prefabricated monolithic slab with polystyrene concrete inserts along the beams with bent metal profile 250 mm thick, with a 2.7 m span loaded with evenly spread load equal to 600 kg/m2. After 3 hour testing for fire-resistance [2] no signs of construction ultimate behavior were detected.

  4. A Revised Historical Fire Regime Analysis in Tunisia (1985–2010 from a Critical Analysis of the National Fire Database and Remote Sensing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiraz Belhadj-Khedher

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Long-term fire history reconstructions provide fruitful information in the context of global change. Global remotely-sensed burned areas offer a uniform estimate of fire regimes worldwide, but hardly capture small fire events and cover only the last 20 years. Burned areas from national statistics often lack credibility due to discrepancies in fire report protocols between countries, partial data records and uncertain burned area estimates from field observations. However, they constitute a unique and valuable alternative long-term key source of information. We provide here a detailed critical analysis of the fire database in Tunisia, on the southern boundary of the Mediterranean basin and with a contrasted socio-economic environment compared to the more studied European side. We analyzed the fire record database with a quality checking protocol, combined with remote sensing burned area characterization from Landsat images. The high uncertainties in fire numbers could not lead to any conclusion for an accurate trend estimate. The corrected burned area lead to an average yearly burned area of 1799 ha year−1 compared to previous estimates of 1017 ha year−1, leading to a fraction of burnable land affected by fires of 0.19%, on the lowest range of observations in the Mediterranean basin. From this corrected database, we revised the usually assumed burned area decrease in this region, with no significant trend detected over the 1985–2010 period. We conclude on the need for thorough assessment of data quality in fire history reconstruction from national statistics to prevent misleading conclusions, and for an increased credibility, in order to be further used in fire models benchmarking or fire weather analysis. Our results can contribute to the under-represented fire regime analysis on the southern boundary of the Mediterranean basin.

  5. Effects of prescribed fires on soil properties: A review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alcañiz, M; Outeiro, L; Francos, M; Úbeda, X

    2018-02-01

    Soils constitute one of the most valuable resources on earth, especially because soil is renewable on human time scales. During the 20th century, a period marked by a widespread rural exodus and land abandonment, fire suppression policies were adopted facilitating the accumulation of fuel in forested areas, exacerbating the effects of wildfires, leading to severe degradation of soils. Prescribed fires emerged as an option for protecting forests and their soils from wildfires through the reduction of fuels levels. However such fires can serve other objectives, including stimulating the regeneration of a particular plant species, maintaining biological diversity or as a tool for recovering grasslands in encroached lands. This paper reviews studies examining the short- and long- term impacts of prescribed fires on the physical, chemical and biological soil properties; in so doing, it provides a summary of the benefits and drawbacks of this technique, to help determine if prescribed fires can be useful for managing the landscape. From the study conducted, we can affirm that prescribed fires affects soil properties but differ greatly depending on soil initial characteristics, vegetation or type of fire. Also, it is possible to see that soil's physical and biological properties are more strongly affected by prescribed fires than are its chemical properties. Finally, we conclude that prescribed fires clearly constitute a disturbance on the environment (positive, neutral or negative depending on the soil property studied), but most of the studies reviewed report a good recovery and their effects could be less pronounced than those of wildfires because of the limited soil heating and lower fire intensity and severity. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  6. A critique of the historical-fire-regime concept in conservation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Johanna; Kobziar, Leda; Rose, Elizabeth White; Cropper, Wendell

    2017-10-01

    Prescribed fire is widely accepted as a conservation tool because fire is essential to the maintenance of native biodiversity in many terrestrial communities. Approaches to this land-management technique vary greatly among continents, and sharing knowledge internationally can inform application of prescribed fire worldwide. In North America, decisions about how and when to apply prescribed fire are typically based on the historical-fire-regime concept (HFRC), which holds that replicating the pattern of fires ignited by lightning or preindustrial humans best promotes native species in fire-prone regions. The HFRC rests on 3 assumptions: it is possible to infer historical fire regimes accurately; fire-suppressed communities are ecologically degraded; and reinstating historical fire regimes is the best course of action despite the global shift toward novel abiotic and biotic conditions. We examined the underpinnings of these assumptions by conducting a literature review on the use of historical fire regimes to inform the application of prescribed fire. We found that the practice of inferring historical fire regimes for entire regions or ecosystems often entails substantial uncertainty and can yield equivocal results; ecological outcomes of fire suppression are complex and may not equate to degradation, depending on the ecosystem and context; and habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and other modern factors can interact with fire to produce novel and in some cases negative ecological outcomes. It is therefore unlikely that all 3 assumptions will be fully upheld for any landscape in which prescribed fire is being applied. Although the HFRC is a valuable starting point, it should not be viewed as the sole basis for developing prescribed fire programs. Rather, fire prescriptions should also account for other specific, measurable ecological parameters on a case-by-case basis. To best achieve conservation goals, researchers should seek to understand contemporary fire

  7. Smoke control of fires in subway stations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chen, Falin; Guo, Shin-Chang [Institute of Applied Mechanics, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan 106 (Taiwan); Chuay, He-Yuan [SinoTech Engineering Consulting Co., 171 Nanking E. Road, 5 Sec., Taipei, Taiwan 105 (Taiwan); Chien, Shen-Wen [Department of Fire Science and Administration, National Central Police University, Taoyuan, Taiwan 333 (Taiwan)

    2003-05-01

    We investigate the effectiveness of the smoke control scheme of the Gong-Guan subway station (GGSS), a typical subway station of the Taipei Rapid Transit System and whose mechanical control systems are also standard in modern subway station design. Three-dimensional smoke flow fields under various kinds of fires are computed by computational fluid dynamics techniques and the results are illustrated on various cross-sectional planes. Results indicate that the stack effect plays a deterministic role in smoke control when a fire occurs near the stairwell; under such circumstances, no mechanical smoke control is necessary. When a fire occurs in other places, such as at the end or the center of the platform, the current mechanical control schemes of GGSS are effective; namely, the smoke can be well controlled, either it is confined to a small region or is evacuated from the station, leaving the four exits free of smoke so that the passengers can escape through them. The effect of the platform edge door (PED) on smoke control is also investigated. With the PED, the effectiveness of the present smoke control system for fires occurring on the chassis of a train, a serious fire in the subway station, increases. We also propose an innovative smoke control scheme with a PED, which turns out to be much more efficient in evacuating smoke than that currently used. This study provides both valuable information for the design of passenger evacuation routes in fires as well as criteria for the design of a smoke control system for subway stations. (orig.)

  8. Criticality and fire-fighting - Recent developments at Westinghouse, Springfields Fuels Limited

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hill, D. A.; Clemson, P. D.

    2009-01-01

    Fire-fighting advice in criticality-controlled areas has traditionally presented unique challenges to the nuclear industry, primarily because of the introduction of moderators / reflectors from water and foam and the potential rearrangement of materials. In an actual emergency, the decision to use water-based fire extinguishing methods is best influenced by a consensus between the criticality and fire specialists as part of the emergency planning process. A recent review of the fire-fighting arrangements at the site operated by Springfields Fuels Limited (SFL) in Preston in the United Kingdom has identified that more detailed guidance may be valuable relating to the specific areas and materials at risk, particularly to highlight the degree of risk and provide guidance on the risk of criticality if water-based fire extinguishing methods were deemed necessary. This has prompted consideration of a criticality 'Fire Tag' system, consisting of colour coded markers in the area (an immediate visual indicator of both the degree of risk and the appropriate fire-fighting response) and single sheet cards (specific guidance for the areas and materials at risk), with the process supported by appropriate training. The approach is currently being trialled on a small scale, and initial feedback from personnel has been positive. (authors)

  9. Fire regime in a Mexican forest under indigenous resource management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fulé, Peter Z; Ramos-Gómez, Mauro; Cortés-Montaño, Citlali; Miller, Andrew M

    2011-04-01

    The Rarámuri (Tarahumara) people live in the mountains and canyons of the Sierra Madre Occidental of Chihuahua, Mexico. They base their subsistence on multiple-use strategies of their natural resources, including agriculture, pastoralism, and harvesting of native plants and wildlife. Pino Gordo is a Rarámuri settlement in a remote location where the forest has not been commercially logged. We reconstructed the forest fire regime from fire-scarred trees, measured the structure of the never-logged forest, and interviewed community members about fire use. Fire occurrence was consistent throughout the 19th and 20th centuries up to our fire scar collection in 2004. This is the least interrupted surface-fire regime reported to date in North America. Studies from other relict sites such as nature reserves in Mexico or the USA have all shown some recent alterations associated with industrialized society. At Pino Gordo, fires recurred frequently at the three study sites, with a composite mean fire interval of 1.9 years (all fires) to 7.6 years (fires scarring 25% or more of samples). Per-sample fire intervals averaged 10-14 years at the three sites. Approximately two-thirds of fires burned in the season of cambial dormancy, probably during the pre-monsoonal drought. Forests were dominated by pines and contained many large living trees and snags, in contrast to two nearby similar forests that have been logged. Community residents reported using fire for many purposes, consistent with previous literature on fire use by indigenous people. Pino Gordo is a valuable example of a continuing frequent-fire regime in a never-harvested forest. The Rarámuri people have actively conserved this forest through their traditional livelihood and management techniques, as opposed to logging the forest, and have also facilitated the fire regime by burning. The data contribute to a better understanding of the interactions of humans who live in pine forests and the fire regimes of these

  10. Study of plutonium fire extinction in glove-boxes; Etude sur l'extinction des feux de plutonium en boites a gants

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Boisson, H; Chappellier, A; Debiar, A; Savornin, J [Commissariat a l' Energie Atomique, Saclay (France). Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires

    1965-07-01

    The report concerns attempts to extinguish fire in uranium - chosen as a basis for comparison - and in plutonium, these being contained in glove boxes. The extinguishing powders TEC and MG 10 were tried and compared. The operator used in plastic bags. The metal was dealt with respectively in the form of billets, compact chips and finally thin shavings. In each case fire control was without difficulty. One must allow a certain time for cooling. The powder MG 10 showed very good results. Moreover, the trials proved that densely packed shavings are a very real security factor. The interior lay-out of the glove boxes ought, in order to facilitate further manipulations, be such as to render extinction as easy as possible should the need arise. (authors) [French] II s'agit d'un compte rendu d'essais d'extinction sur feux d'uranium - pris comme base de comparaison - et de plutonium, en boites a gants. Sont utilisees et comparees les poudres extinctrices TEC et MG 10. Elles sont employees par l'operateur en sachets de plastique. Le metal est pris successivement sous forme de billettes, de copeaux compactes, enfin de tournures fines. L'intervention est aisee dans tous les cas; il faut laisser un certain temps de refroidissement. La poudre MG 10 a donne de tres bons resultats, Les essais ont montre, de plus, que le compactage des copeaux est un facteur reel de securite. L'agencement interieur des boites a gants pour les manipulations a venir, devrait tenir compte de cette facilite d'extinction afin de la rendre la plus aisee possible en cas de besoin. (auteurs)

  11. Fire Regimes of Remnant Pitch Pine Communities in the Ridge and Valley Region of Central Pennsylvania, USA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph M. Marschall

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Many fire-adapted ecosystems in the northeastern U.S. are converting to fire-intolerant vegetation communities due to fire suppression in the 20th century. Prescribed fire and other vegetation management activities that increase resilience and resistance to global changes are increasingly being implemented, particularly on public lands. For many fire-dependent communities, there is little quantitative data describing historical fire regime attributes such as frequency, severity, and seasonality, or how these varied through time. Where available, fire-scarred live and remnant trees, including stumps and snags, offer valuable insights into historical fire regimes through tree-ring and fire-scar analyses. In this study, we dated fire scars from 66 trees at two sites in the Ridge and Valley Province of the Appalachian Mountains in central Pennsylvania, and described fire frequency, severity, and seasonality from the mid-17th century to 2013. Fires were historically frequent, of low to moderate severity, occurred mostly during the dormant season, and were influenced by aspect and topography. The current extended fire-free interval is unprecedented in the previous 250–300 years at both sites.

  12. Challenging and valuable

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Van Hal, J.D.M.

    2008-01-01

    Challenging and valuable Inaugural speech given on May 7th 2008 at the occasion of the acceptance of the position of Professor Sustainable Housing Transformation at the faculty of Architeeture of the Delft University of Technology by Prof. J.D.M. van Hal MSc PhD.

  13. Characterization of active fires in West African savannas by analysis of satellite data: Landsat Thematic Mapper

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brustet, J.M.; Vickos, J.B.; Fontan, J.; Podaire, A.; Lavenu, F.

    1991-01-01

    Landsat Thematic Mapper provides valuable information on biomass burning, such as the apparent temperature of a fire and its shape. However, the surface determined by remote sensing does not exactly correspond to the burning area, due to an artificial enlargement of the fire front width. This enlargement of the fire front width. This enlargement may have diverse origins. In particular, it is difficult to estimate the temperature of the areas that are behind the fire front and that have been just burned. Emissions from these areas may be detectable by Landsat channels, thus resulting in the observed enlargement of the fire front. Additional experiments including remote sensing by plane are necessary to allow a more complete understanding of these phenomena. Biomass burning is an important source of atmospheric pollution on a global scale. This study indicates that a fire is a significant source of pollution on a local scale

  14. Building Fire Safety Audit at Faculty X, University of Indonesia, Year 2006

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fatma Lestari

    2010-10-01

    Full Text Available Fire may cause loss of life, material and valuable assets. The objective of this study is to conduct audit for fire safety and emergency response in the building at Faculty X, University of Indonesia, Depok. The audit results on the building fire safety facilities including emergency response and preparedness are then compared to the Building Code Australia (BCA and Indonesian regulation on the building fire safety (Kep.MenPU.No 10 and 11/KPTS/2000. The building selected are Building A, B, C, D, F and G. Building classification for A, B, D, F and G are classified as Class 5, while Building C is classified as Class 9b. Variable which are evaluated including emergency exit, building structure, fire alarm and detector, communication and fire warning system, evacuation procedure, portable fire extinguishers, hydrant, sprinkler, and emergency response preparedness. Results suggested that emergency exit is locked, and this is not comply to the regulation. Building structure has been complied to the regulation since it was made of concrete. Fire detector and alarm only provided in Building G, while other building is not available. There is no evacuation procedure available. Portable fire extinguisher has been available in all the building. Hydrant an sprinkler only available in building G. There is no emergency response preparedness in this faculty. In conclusion, the fire safety facilities in this faculty need to be improved.

  15. Literature study regarding fire protection in nuclear power plants. Part I: Fire rated separations; Litteraturstudie angaaende brandskydd i kaernkraftverk. Del I: Brandteknisk separation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Isaksson, S [Swedish Testing and Research Inst., Boraas (Sweden)

    1995-06-01

    This literature study has been made on behalf of the Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate. The aim is to describe different aspects of fire protection in nuclear power plants. Conventional building codes can not give guidance on where to make fire rated separations in order to separate redundant trains of safety systems. The separation must originate in functional demands from the authorities on what functions are essential during and after a fire, and under what circumstances these functions shall be retained, i.e. the number of independent faults and initiating events. As a basic demand it is suggested to rate the strength of separations according to conventional building code, based on fire load. The whole separating construction shall have the same fire rating, including the ventilation system. Deviations from the basic demand can de done in case it can be proven that it is possible to compensate some or all of the fire rating with other measures. There is a general lack of statistical information regarding the reliability of fire separating constructions such as walls, fire doors, penetration seals and fire dampers. The amount of cables penetrating a seal is in many cases much higher in real installations than what has been tested for type approval. It would therefore be valuable to perform a furnace test with a more representative amount of cables passing through a penetration seal. Tests have shown that the 20 foot horizontal separation distance stipulated by NRC is not a guarantee against fire damage. Spatial separations based on general requirements shall not be allowed, but considered from case to case based on actual circumstances. For fire protection by isolation or coatings, it is of great importance to choose the method of protection carefully, to be compatible with the material it shall be applied on, and the environment and types of fire that may occur. 48 refs, 2 figs, 5 tabs.

  16. Recovery and utilization of valuable metals from spent nuclear fuel. 3: Mutual separation of valuable metals

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirishima, K.; Shibayama, H.; Nakahira, H.; Shimauchi, H.; Myochin, M.; Wada, Y.; Kawase, K.; Kishimoto, Y.

    1993-01-01

    In the project ''Recovery and Utilization of Valuable Metals from Spent Fuel,'' mutual separation process of valuable metals recovered from spent fuel has been studied by using the simulated solution contained Pb, Ru, Rh, Pd and Mo. Pd was separated successfully by DHS (di-hexyl sulfide) solvent extraction method, while Pb was recovered selectively from the raffinate by neutralization precipitation of other elements. On the other hand, Rh was roughly separated by washing the precipitate with alkaline solution, so that Rh was refined by chelate resin CS-346. Outline of the mutual separation process flow sheet has been established of the combination of these techniques. The experimental results and the process flow sheet of mutual separation of valuable metals are presented in this paper

  17. CSER 90-006, addendum 1: Criticality safety control for source term reduction project in the scrubber glovebox of Building 232-Z. Revision 1

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hess, A.L.

    1995-01-01

    This Criticality Safety Evaluation Report addendum extends the coverage of the original CSER (90-006) about dismantling the ductwork in 232-Z to include cleanout of the Scrubber Glovebox, with an estimated residual Pu holdup of less than 200 grams. For conservatism and containment considerations, the provisions about waste packaging and water exclusion from the original work are retained, even though it is not credible for the Scrubber Pu content to be made critical with water added (NDA gives about 1/3 a minimum critical mass)

  18. Wildland fire limits subsequent fire occurrence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sean A. Parks; Carol Miller; Lisa M. Holsinger; Scott Baggett; Benjamin J. Bird

    2016-01-01

    Several aspects of wildland fire are moderated by site- and landscape-level vegetation changes caused by previous fire, thereby creating a dynamic where one fire exerts a regulatory control on subsequent fire. For example, wildland fire has been shown to regulate the size and severity of subsequent fire. However, wildland fire has the potential to influence...

  19. Fire safety case study of a railway tunnel: Smoke evacuation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    van Maele Karim

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available When a fire occurs in a tunnel, it is of great importance to assure the safety of the occupants of the tunnel. This is achieved by creating smoke-free spaces in the tunnel through control of the smoke gases. In this paper, results are presented of a study concerning the fire safety in a real scale railway tunnel test case. Numerical simulations are performed in order to examine the possibility of natural ventilation of smoke in inclined tunnels. Several aspects are taken into account: the length of the simulated tunnel section, the slope of the tunnel and the possible effects of external wind at one portal of the tunnel. The Fire Dynamics Simulator of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA, is applied to perform the simulations. The simulations show that for the local behavior of the smoke during the early stages of the fire, the slope of the tunnel is of little importance. Secondly, the results show that external wind and/or pressure conditions have a large effect on the smoke gases inside the tunnel. Finally, some idea for the value of the critical ventilation velocity is given. The study also shows that computational fluid dynamics calculations are a valuable tool for large scale, real life complex fire cases. .

  20. Feedlot biomass co-firing: a renewable energy alternative for coal-fired utilities. Paper no. IGEC-1-128

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Arumugam, S.; Thien, B.; Annamalai, K.; Sweeten, J.

    2005-01-01

    The swiftly growing feedlot industry in the United States upshots in the production of manure from one or more animal species in excess of what can safely be applied to farmland in accordance with nutrient management plans. Disposal of the vast quantity of manure produced as a by-product of the cattle feeding industry is one of the major operating tasks of the industry. Aside from the traditional means of disposal as fertilizer, an alternative and attractive way of overcoming this threat is to develop processes that make use of manure as an energy resource. In the present study, the feasibility of using of manure as a fuel in existing coal fired power plants is considered and appropriately termed Feedlot Biomass (FB). The technology of co-firing coal: feedlot biomass facilitates an environment friendly utilization of animal waste for the production of valuable power/steam concurrently addressing the renewable energy, groundwater contamination, and greenhouse gas concerns. Co-firing tests were performed at the Texas AandM University 30 kW t (100,000 Btu/h) laboratory-scale facility. The trials revealed the enhanced combustion of the blends. The NO emissions were less for the blend even with higher nitrogen content of FB as compared to coal. (author)

  1. Overview of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Facility and the Research Performed in the MSG

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, Lee

    2016-01-01

    The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a rack facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS) designed for investigation handling. The MSG was built by the European Space Agency (ESA) which also provides sustaining engineering support for the facility. The MSG has been operating on the ISS since July 2002 and is currently located in the US Laboratory Module. The unique design of the facility allows it to accommodate science and technology investigations in a "workbench" type environment. The facility has an enclosed working volume that is held at a negative pressure with respect to the crew living area. This allows the facility to provide two levels of containment for small parts, particulates, fluids, and gases. This containment approach protects the crew from possible hazardous operations that take place inside the MSG work volume. Research investigations operating inside the MSG are provided a large 255 liter enclosed work space, 1000 watts of direct current power via a versatile supply interface (120, 28, plus or minus 12, and 5 volts direct current), 1000 watts of cooling capability, video and data recording and real time downlink, ground commanding capabilities, access to ISS Vacuum Exhaust and Vacuum Resource Systems, and gaseous nitrogen supply. These capabilities make the MSG one of the most utilized facilities on ISS. The MSG has been used for over 27,000 hours of scientific payload operations. MSG investigations involve research in cryogenic fluid management, fluid physics, spacecraft fire safety, materials science, combustion, plant growth, biological studies and life support technology. The MSG facility is operated by the Payloads Operations Integration Center at Marshall Space Flight Center. Payloads may also operate remotely from different telescience centers located in the United States and Europe. The Investigative Payload Integration Manager (IPIM) is the focal to assist organizations that have payloads operating in the MSG facility

  2. Simulating wildfire spread behavior between two NASA Active Fire data timeframes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adhikari, B.; Hodza, P.; Xu, C.; Minckley, T. A.

    2017-12-01

    Although NASA's Active Fire dataset is considered valuable in mapping the spatial distribution and extent of wildfires across the world, the data is only available at approximately 12-hour time intervals, creating uncertainties and risks associated with fire spread and behavior between the two Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Satellite (VIIRS) data collection timeframes. Our study seeks to close the information gap for the United States by using the latest Active Fire data collected for instance around 0130 hours as an ignition source and critical inputs to a wildfire model by uniquely incorporating forecasted and real-time weather conditions for predicting fire perimeter at the next 12 hour reporting time (i.e. around 1330 hours). The model ingests highly dynamic variables such as fuel moisture, temperature, relative humidity, wind among others, and prompts a Monte Carlo simulation exercise that uses a varying range of possible values for evaluating all possible wildfire behaviors. The Monte Carlo simulation implemented in this model provides a measure of the relative wildfire risk levels at various locations based on the number of times those sites are intersected by simulated fire perimeters. Model calibration is achieved using data at next reporting time (i.e. after 12 hours) to enhance the predictive quality at further time steps. While initial results indicate that the calibrated model can predict the overall geometry and direction of wildland fire spread, the model seems to over-predict the sizes of most fire perimeters possibly due to unaccounted fire suppression activities. Nonetheless, the results of this study show great promise in aiding wildland fire tracking, fighting and risk management.

  3. Methods for Prediction of Steel Temperature Curve in the Whole Process of a Localized Fire in Large Spaces

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Guowei

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Based on a full-scale bookcase fire experiment, a fire development model is proposed for the whole process of localized fires in large-space buildings. We found that for localized fires in large-space buildings full of wooden combustible materials the fire growing phases can be simplified into a t2 fire with a 0.0346 kW/s2 fire growth coefficient. FDS technology is applied to study the smoke temperature curve for a 2 MW to 25 MW fire occurring within a large space with a height of 6 m to 12 m and a building area of 1 500 m2 to 10 000 m2 based on the proposed fire development model. Through the analysis of smoke temperature in various fire scenarios, a new approach is proposed to predict the smoke temperature curve. Meanwhile, a modified model of steel temperature development in localized fire is built. In the modified model, the localized fire source is treated as a point fire source to evaluate the flame net heat flux to steel. The steel temperature curve in the whole process of a localized fire could be accurately predicted by the above findings. These conclusions obtained in this paper could provide valuable reference to fire simulation, hazard assessment, and fire protection design.

  4. Engineering study on conveyor system for HC-21C project

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Vries, M.L.

    1995-01-01

    The sludge stabilization process thermally stabilizes reactive plutonium bearing materials in a muffle furnace. This process is used to prepare the material for long term storage in the vaults. The process is conducted in Room 230A and 230B. The furnaces are located in glovebox HC-21C. Glovebox HC-21A is used for preparation of the charge and packaging of the high fired oxide. The feed for the process is located throughout the PRF and RMC-line gloveboxes, with over half of the feedstock currently being located in HA-23S. For readiness assessment, the sludge stabilization process at PFP was reviewed by the ALARA team to see how the process could be improved. One suggestion was made that the conveyor system be used to transfer items from HA-23S to the process glovebox (HA-21A) instead of sealing items in and out of the gloveboxes. The following discussion describes and compares past and current methods. In addition, actions are addressed that would need to be completed before the conveyor method could be used. The transportation of the feedstock to the process and all the different influencing factors will be examined to determine the best method. This assessment is being performed considering only the current campaign for HC-21C. However, there is a possibility that in the future, additional furnaces will be installed and further campaigns done

  5. Conservation threats due to human-caused increases in fire frequency in Mediterranean-climate ecosystems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Syphard, Alexandra D; Radeloff, Volker C; Hawbaker, Todd J; Stewart, Susan I

    2009-06-01

    analysis of relationships between people and fire may help identify areas where increases in fire frequency will threaten ecologically valuable areas. ©2009 Society for Conservation Biology.

  6. Holocene fire, vegetation, and climate dynamics inferred from charcoal and pollen record in the eastern Tibetan Plateau

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Wenwei; Zhao, Yan; Qin, Feng

    2017-10-01

    Understanding fire history and its driving mechanisms can provide valuable insights into present fire regime (intensity, severity and frequency), the interplay between vegetation and fire, and trigger of fire activities. Here we reconstruct the Holocene fire history in the Zoige Basin on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, on the basis of sedimentary micro-charcoal record over the last 10.0 ka (1 ka = 1000 cal yr BP) and discuss the influences of vegetation and climate on fire dynamics. Our results show that regional fire was active at 10.0-3.3 ka and a significant decrease in fire activity characterized the period after 3.3 ka. The high regional fire frequency at 10.0-3.3 ka is consistent with the forested landscape suggested by high affinity scores of cool mixed forest biome (mainly consisted of spruce), implying that fire dynamics during this period was generally controlled by the variations of arboreal biomass and summer temperature. During 6.3-4.6 ka the prevailing Asian summer monsoon provided increased moisture to this region and thus suppressed fire activities to an extent, despite the availability of abundant biomass. Declined tree biomass after 3.3 ka probably accounted for the decreased fire activities. In addition, two successive fire events at ca. 3.5-3.3 ka were likely responsible for the subsequent abrupt decline of forest components in the landscape.

  7. FIRE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brtis, J.S.; Hausheer, T.G.

    1990-01-01

    FIRE, a microcomputer based program to assist engineers in reviewing and documenting the fire protection impact of design changes has been developed. Acting as an electronic consultant, FIRE is designed to work with an experienced nuclear system engineer, who may not have any detailed fire protection expertise. FIRE helps the engineer to decide if a modification might adversely affect the fire protection design of the station. Since its first development, FIRE has been customized to reflect the fire protection philosophy of the Commonwealth Edison Company. That program is in early production use. This paper discusses the FIRE program in light of its being a useful application of expert system technologies in the power industry

  8. A Review of Fire Interactions and Mass Fires

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mark A. Finney

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The character of a wildland fire can change dramatically in the presence of another nearby fire. Understanding and predicting the changes in behavior due to fire-fire interactions cannot only be life-saving to those on the ground, but also be used to better control a prescribed fire to meet objectives. In discontinuous fuel types, such interactions may elicit fire spread where none otherwise existed. Fire-fire interactions occur naturally when spot fires start ahead of the main fire and when separate fire events converge in one location. Interactions can be created intentionally during prescribed fires by using spatial ignition patterns. Mass fires are among the most extreme examples of interactive behavior. This paper presents a review of the detailed effects of fire-fire interaction in terms of merging or coalescence criteria, burning rates, flame dimensions, flame temperature, indraft velocity, pulsation, and convection column dynamics. Though relevant in many situations, these changes in fire behavior have yet to be included in any operational-fire models or decision support systems.

  9. "Fire Moss" Cover and Function in Severely Burned Forests of the Western United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grover, H.; Doherty, K.; Sieg, C.; Robichaud, P. R.; Fulé, P. Z.; Bowker, M.

    2017-12-01

    With wildfires increasing in severity and extent throughout the Western United States, land managers need new tools to stabilize recently burned ecosystems. "Fire moss" consists of three species, Ceratodon purpureus, Funaria hygrometrica, and Bryum argentum. These mosses colonize burned landscapes quickly, aggregate soils, have extremely high water holding capacity, and can be grown rapidly ex-situ. In this talk, I will focus on our efforts to understand how Fire Moss naturally interacts with severely burned landscapes. We examined 14 fires in Arizona, New Mexico, Washington, and Idaho selecting a range of times since fire, and stratified plots within each wildfire by winter insolation and elevation. At 75+ plots we measured understory plant cover, ground cover, Fire Moss cover, and Fire Moss reproductive effort. On plots in the Southwest, we measured a suite of soil characteristics on moss covered and adjacent bare soil including aggregate stability, shear strength, compressional strength, and infiltration rates. Moss cover ranged from 0-75% with a mean of 16% across all plots and was inversely related to insolation (R2 = .32, p = stability and infiltration rates as adjacent bare ground. These results will allow us to model locations where Fire Moss will naturally increase postfire hillslope soil stability, locations for targeting moss restoration efforts, and suggest that Fire Moss could be a valuable tool to mitigate post wildfire erosion.

  10. Fire monitoring from space: from research to operation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pergola, Nicola; Filizzola, Carolina; Corrado, Rosita; Coviello, Irina; lacava, Teodosio; Marchese, Francesco; Mazzeo, Giuseppe; Paciello, Rossana; Tramutoli, Valerio

    2013-04-01

    Department for the whole summer campaign on forest fires fighting, supporting their activities in routinely managing and monitoring forest fires risk. The experimented satellite system has demonstrated to provide valuable information that can be used by civil protection staff also in support to organization and allocation of fire fighting resources on ground, especially when, during the high risk periods, there are or are expected a large number of contemporary events. Training activities, devoted to make DPC staff fully able to self operate the provided satellite-based tool, were also carried out during this collaborative experience, which represents a best practice of a useful integration of satellite added value products within the operational framework of an expert user.

  11. FIRES: Fire Information Retrieval and Evaluation System - A program for fire danger rating analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patricia L. Andrews; Larry S. Bradshaw

    1997-01-01

    A computer program, FIRES: Fire Information Retrieval and Evaluation System, provides methods for evaluating the performance of fire danger rating indexes. The relationship between fire danger indexes and historical fire occurrence and size is examined through logistic regression and percentiles. Historical seasonal trends of fire danger and fire occurrence can be...

  12. In situ remediation of plutonium from glovebox exhaust ducts at the Department of Energy's Rocky Flats Plant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dugdale, J.S.; Humiston, T.J.; Omer, G.E.

    1993-01-01

    Plutonium and other miscellaneous hold-up materials have been accumulating in the glovebox exhaust ducts at the Rocky Flats Plant over the 40 years of weapons production at the site. The Duct Remediation Project was undertaken to assess the safety impacts of this material, and to remove it from the ductwork. The project necessitated the development of specialized tools, equipment and methods to remediate the material from continuously operating ventilation systems. Special engineered access locations were also required to provide access to the ductwork, and to ensure that safety and system operability were not degraded as a result of the remediation efforts. Operations personnel underwent significant training and development, and became an important asset to the success of the project. In total, the project succeeded in removing over 40 kilograms of plutonium-bearing material from one of the major weapons production buildings at the plant

  13. Fire propagation equation for the explicit identification of fire scenarios in a fire PSA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lim, Ho Gon; Han, Sang Hoon; Moon, Joo Hyun

    2011-01-01

    When performing fire PSA in a nuclear power plant, an event mapping method, using an internal event PSA model, is widely used to reduce the resources used by fire PSA model development. Feasible initiating events and component failure events due to fire are identified to transform the fault tree (FT) for an internal event PSA into one for a fire PSA using the event mapping method. A surrogate event or damage term method is used to condition the FT of the internal PSA. The surrogate event or the damage term plays the role of flagging whether the system/component in a fire compartment is damaged or not, depending on the fire being initiated from a specified compartment. These methods usually require explicit states of all compartments to be modeled in a fire area. Fire event scenarios, when using explicit identification, such as surrogate or damage terms, have two problems: there is no consideration of multiple fire propagation beyond a single propagation to an adjacent compartment, and there is no consideration of simultaneous fire propagations in which an initiating fire event is propagated to multiple paths simultaneously. The present paper suggests a fire propagation equation to identify all possible fire event scenarios for an explicitly treated fire event scenario in the fire PSA. Also, a method for separating fire events was developed to make all fire events a set of mutually exclusive events, which can facilitate arithmetic summation in fire risk quantification. A simple example is given to confirm the applicability of the present method for a 2x3 rectangular fire area. Also, a feasible asymptotic approach is discussed to reduce the computational burden for fire risk quantification

  14. History of Fire Events in the U.S. Commercial Nuclear Industry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bijan Najafi; Joglar-Biloch, Francisco; Kassawara, Robert P.; Khalil, Yehia

    2002-01-01

    made significant progress towards improving the quality of the fire events data through use of multiple collection methods as well as its review and verification. To date EPRI has used this data to develop a generic fire ignition frequency model for U.S. nuclear power industry (Ref. 1, 4 and 5) as well as to support other models in support of EPRI Fire Risk Methods such as a cable fire manual suppression model. EPRI will continue its effort to collect and analyze operating data to support risk informed/performance based fire safety engineering, including collection and analysis of impairment data for fire protection systems and features. This paper provides details on the collection and application of fire events to risk informed/performance based fire protection. The paper also provides valuable insights into improving both collection and use of fire events data. (authors)

  15. Recent coal-fire and land-use status of Jharia Coalfield, India from satellite data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martha, T.R.; Guha, A.; Kumar, K.V.; Kamaraju, M.V.V.; Raju, E.V.R. [NRSC, Hyderabad (India). Geoscience Division

    2010-07-01

    The Jharia Coalfield (JCF) in India is known for its high grade coal and associated coal fires. Before it can be exploited, valuable coal reserves are destroyed in the sub-surface due to fire. The combined act of fire and subsidence has endangered the environmental safety of the JCF, although several methods have been adopted to control the coal fires. Coal fire is a dynamic phenomenon, hence, its location and extent changes with time. To control the coal fires effectively, the status of the fires and the landscape must be assessed periodically. In this study, the thermal band in Landsat-7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data (daytime) of 29 March 2003 and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data (night-time) of 9 October 2006 are used to delineate the coal-fire areas. The kinetic temperature of the coal fire-affected areas is calculated from Landsat-7 ETM+ data using a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI)-derived emissivity model, and from band 13 of ASTER data with a fixed emissivity value. The study showed that the eastern part of the JCF is more affected by coal fires than the western part. The affected collieries in the eastern part are Kusunda, Lodna, Bararee, Gonudih and Ena. Among all collieries, Kusunda is the most affected by coal fires (29% of the area) and showed a 0.56 km2 increase in fire area from the year 2003 to 2006. During this period, a total increase in coal-fire area of 0.51 km{sup 2} occurs in the JCF. The land-use map prepared from Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) Satellite-P6 Linear Imaging Self-scanning Sensor (LISS)-III data showed that 6.9% of the area in the JCF is occupied by mining-related activities, which indicates its vulnerability to environmental degradation.

  16. Comparison of the characteristics of fire and non-fire households in the 2004-2005 survey of fire department-attended and unattended fires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greene, Michael A

    2012-06-01

    Comparison of characteristics of fire with non-fire households to determine factors differentially associated with fire households (fire risk factors). National household telephone survey in 2004-2005 by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission with 916 fire households and a comparison sample of 2161 non-fire households. There were an estimated 7.4 million fires (96.6% not reported to fire departments) with 130,000 injuries. Bivariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analyses to assess differences in household characteristics. Significant factors associated with fire households were renting vs. owning (OR 1.988 pfire households with non-cooking fires (OR 1.383 p=0.0011). Single family houses were associated with non-fire households in the bivariate analysis but not in the multivariate analyses. Renting, household members under 18 years old and smokers are risk factors for unattended fires, similar to the literature for fatal and injury fires. Differences included household members over 65 years old (associated with non-fire households), college/postgraduate education (associated with fire households) and lack of significance of income. Preventing cooking fires (64% of survey incidents), smoking prevention efforts and fire prevention education for families with young children have the potential for reducing unattended fires and injuries.

  17. Fire hazard after prescribed burning in a gorse shrubland: implications for fuel management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marino, Eva; Guijarro, Mercedes; Hernando, Carmen; Madrigal, Javier; Díez, Carmen

    2011-03-01

    Prescribed burning is commonly used to prevent accumulation of biomass in fire-prone shrubland in NW Spain. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the efficacy of the technique in reducing fire hazard in these ecosystems. Fire hazard in burned shrubland areas will depend on the initial capacity of woody vegetation to recover and on the fine ground fuels existing after fire. To explore the effect that time since burning has on fire hazard, experimental tests were performed with two fuel complexes (fine ground fuels and regenerated shrubs) resulting from previous prescribed burnings conducted in a gorse shrubland (Ulex europaeus L.) one, three and five years earlier. A point-ignition source was used in burning experiments to assess ignition and initial propagation success separately for each fuel complex. The effect of wind speed was also studied for shrub fuels, and several flammability parameters were measured. Results showed that both ignition and initial propagation success of fine ground fuels mainly depended on fuel depth and were independent of time since burning, although flammability parameters indicated higher fire hazard three years after burning. In contrast, time since burning increased ignition and initial propagation success of regenerated shrub fuels, as well as the flammability parameters assessed, but wind speed had no significant effect. The combination of results of fire hazard for fine ground fuels and regenerated shrubs according to the variation in relative coverage of each fuel type after prescribed burning enabled an assessment of integrated fire hazard in treated areas. The present results suggest that prescribed burning is a very effective technique to reduce fire hazard in the study area, but that fire hazard will be significantly increased by the third year after burning. These results are valuable for fire prevention and fuel management planning in gorse shrubland areas. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. A Drone Remote Sensing for Virtual Reality Simulation System for Forest Fires: Semantic Neural Network Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Narasimha Rao, Gudikandhula; Jagadeeswara Rao, Peddada; Duvvuru, Rajesh

    2016-09-01

    Wild fires have significant impact on atmosphere and lives. The demand of predicting exact fire area in forest may help fire management team by using drone as a robot. These are flexible, inexpensive and elevated-motion remote sensing systems that use drones as platforms are important for substantial data gaps and supplementing the capabilities of manned aircraft and satellite remote sensing systems. In addition, powerful computational tools are essential for predicting certain burned area in the duration of a forest fire. The reason of this study is to built up a smart system based on semantic neural networking for the forecast of burned areas. The usage of virtual reality simulator is used to support the instruction process of fire fighters and all users for saving of surrounded wild lives by using a naive method Semantic Neural Network System (SNNS). Semantics are valuable initially to have a enhanced representation of the burned area prediction and better alteration of simulation situation to the users. In meticulous, consequences obtained with geometric semantic neural networking is extensively superior to other methods. This learning suggests that deeper investigation of neural networking in the field of forest fires prediction could be productive.

  19. Calculation of Fire Severity Factors and Fire Non-Suppression Probabilities For A DOE Facility Fire PRA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Elicson, Tom; Harwood, Bentley; Lucek, Heather; Bouchard, Jim

    2011-01-01

    Over a 12 month period, a fire PRA was developed for a DOE facility using the NUREG/CR-6850 EPRI/NRC fire PRA methodology. The fire PRA modeling included calculation of fire severity factors (SFs) and fire non-suppression probabilities (PNS) for each safe shutdown (SSD) component considered in the fire PRA model. The SFs were developed by performing detailed fire modeling through a combination of CFAST fire zone model calculations and Latin Hypercube Sampling (LHS). Component damage times and automatic fire suppression system actuation times calculated in the CFAST LHS analyses were then input to a time-dependent model of fire non-suppression probability. The fire non-suppression probability model is based on the modeling approach outlined in NUREG/CR-6850 and is supplemented with plant specific data. This paper presents the methodology used in the DOE facility fire PRA for modeling fire-induced SSD component failures and includes discussions of modeling techniques for: Development of time-dependent fire heat release rate profiles (required as input to CFAST), Calculation of fire severity factors based on CFAST detailed fire modeling, and Calculation of fire non-suppression probabilities.

  20. Dismantling of a furnace and gloveboxes of a U{sub 3}O{sub 8} with 20% enrichment production line; Desmantelamiento de un horno y cajas de guantes de una linea de produccion de U{sub 3}O{sub 8} enriquecido al 20%

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yorio, Daniel; Cinat, Enrique; Cincotta, Daniel; Fernandez, Carlos A; Bruno, Hernan R; Camacho, Esteban F; Boero, Norma [Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica, General San Martin (Argentina). Dept. de Combustibles Nucleares

    1999-07-01

    In the Uranium Powder Manufacturing Plant at CAC, U{sub 3}O{sub 8} with 20% enrichment is manufactured for fuel plates to be used in test reactors. This plant is in full operation since 1986, producing uranium oxide for Peru, Algeria, Iran, Egypt and the RA-3-CAE reactors. Some of the equipment of the Plant have finished their life time and one of the furnaces of the processing line had to be replaced. This work implied the dismantling not only of the furnace, but also of the gloveboxes connected to the furnace and the dismantling of the extraction lines and air injection of the gloveboxes. The work had to be performed with the necessary care in order to minimize risks and effects on personnel, installations and environment involved. (author)

  1. Vulnerability of particularly valuable areas. Summary

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    2012-07-01

    This report is part of the scientific basis for the management plan for the North Sea and Skagerrak. The report focuses on the vulnerability of particularly valuable areas to petroleum activities, maritime transport, fisheries, land-based and coastal activities and long-range transboundary pollution. A working group with representatives from many different government agencies, headed by the Institute of Marine Research and the Directorate for Nature Management, has been responsible for drawing up the present report on behalf of the Expert Group for the North Sea and Skagerrak. The present report considers the 12 areas that were identified as particularly valuable during an earlier stage of the management plan process on the environment, natural resources and pollution. There are nine areas along the coast and three open sea areas in the North Sea that were identified according to the same predefined criteria as used for the management plans for the Barents Sea: Lofoten area and the Norwegian Sea. The most important criteria for particularly valuable areas are importance for biological production and importance for biodiversity.(Author)

  2. Vulnerability of particularly valuable areas. Summary

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    2012-01-01

    This report is part of the scientific basis for the management plan for the North Sea and Skagerrak. The report focuses on the vulnerability of particularly valuable areas to petroleum activities, maritime transport, fisheries, land-based and coastal activities and long-range transboundary pollution. A working group with representatives from many different government agencies, headed by the Institute of Marine Research and the Directorate for Nature Management, has been responsible for drawing up the present report on behalf of the Expert Group for the North Sea and Skagerrak. The present report considers the 12 areas that were identified as particularly valuable during an earlier stage of the management plan process on the environment, natural resources and pollution. There are nine areas along the coast and three open sea areas in the North Sea that were identified according to the same predefined criteria as used for the management plans for the Barents Sea: Lofoten area and the Norwegian Sea. The most important criteria for particularly valuable areas are importance for biological production and importance for biodiversity.(Author)

  3. A review of fire interactions and mass fires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mark A. Finney; Sara S. McAllister

    2011-01-01

    The character of a wildland fire can change dramatically in the presence of another nearby fire. Understanding and predicting the changes in behavior due to fire-fire interactions cannot only be life-saving to those on the ground, but also be used to better control a prescribed fire to meet objectives. In discontinuous fuel types, such interactions may elicit fire...

  4. Fire characteristics charts for fire behavior and U.S. fire danger rating

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faith Ann Heinsch; Pat Andrews

    2010-01-01

    The fire characteristics chart is a graphical method of presenting U.S. National Fire Danger Rating indices or primary surface or crown fire behavior characteristics. A desktop computer application has been developed to produce fire characteristics charts in a format suitable for inclusion in reports and presentations. Many options include change of scales, colors,...

  5. Fire protection and fire fighting in nuclear installations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-01-01

    Fires are a threat to all technical installations. While fire protection has long been a well established conventional discipline, its application to nuclear facilities requires special considerations. Nevertheless, for a long time fire engineering has been somewhat neglected in the design and operation of nuclear installations. In the nuclear industry, the Browns Ferry fire in 1975 brought about an essential change in the attention paid to fire problems. Designers and plant operators, as well as insurance companies and regulators, increased their efforts to develop concepts and methods for reducing fire risks, not only to protect the capital investment in nuclear plants but also to consider the potential secondary effects which could lead to nuclear accidents. Although the number of fires in nuclear installations is still relatively large, their overall importance to the safety of nuclear power plants was not considered to be very high. Only more recently have probabilistic analyses changed this picture. The results may well have to be taken into account more carefully. Various aspects of fire fighting and fire protection were discussed during the Symposium, the first of its kind to be organized by the IAEA. It was convened in co-operation with several organizations working in the nuclear or fire protection fields. The intention was to gather experts from nuclear engineering areas and the conventional fire protection field at one meeting with a view to enhancing the exchange of information and experience and to presenting current knowledge on the various disciplines involved. The presentations at the meeting were subdivided into eight sessions: standards and licensing (6 papers); national fire safety practices (7 papers); fire safety by design (11 papers); fire fighting (2 papers); computer fire modeling (7 papers); fire safety in fuel center facilities (7 papers); fire testing of materials (3 papers); fire risk assessment (5 papers). A separate abstract was

  6. Resolving vorticity-driven lateral fire spread using the WRF-Fire coupled atmosphere–fire numerical model

    OpenAIRE

    Simpson, C. C.; Sharples, J. J.; Evans, J. P.

    2014-01-01

    Fire channelling is a form of dynamic fire behaviour, during which a wildland fire spreads rapidly across a steep lee-facing slope in a direction transverse to the background winds, and is often accompanied by a downwind extension of the active flaming region and extreme pyro-convection. Recent work using the WRF-Fire coupled atmosphere-fire model has demonstrated that fire channelling can be characterised as vorticity-driven lateral fire spread (VDLS). In t...

  7. Sensitivity Analysis on Fire Modeling of Main Control Board Fire Using Fire Dynamics Simulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Dae Il; Lim, Ho Gon

    2015-01-01

    In this study, sensitivity analyses for an MCB fire were performed to identify the effects on the MCR forced abandonment time according to the changes of height and number for fire initiation places. Hanul Unit 3 NPP was selected as a reference plant for this study. In this study, sensitivity analyses for an MCB fire were performed to identify the effects on the MCR forced abandonment time according to the changes of height and number of fire initiation places. A main control board (MCB) fire can cause a forced main control room (MCR) abandonment of the operators as well as the function failures or spurious operations of the control and instrumentation-related components. If the MCR cannot be habitable, a safe shutdown from outside the MCR can be achieved and maintained at an alternate shutdown panel independent from the MCR. When the fire modeling for an electrical cabinet such as an MCB was performed, its many input parameters can affect the fire simulation results. This study results showed that the decrease in the height of fire ignition place and the use of single fire ignition place in fire modeling for the propagating fire shortened MCR abandonment time

  8. Sensitivity Analysis on Fire Modeling of Main Control Board Fire Using Fire Dynamics Simulator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Dae Il; Lim, Ho Gon [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-10-15

    In this study, sensitivity analyses for an MCB fire were performed to identify the effects on the MCR forced abandonment time according to the changes of height and number for fire initiation places. Hanul Unit 3 NPP was selected as a reference plant for this study. In this study, sensitivity analyses for an MCB fire were performed to identify the effects on the MCR forced abandonment time according to the changes of height and number of fire initiation places. A main control board (MCB) fire can cause a forced main control room (MCR) abandonment of the operators as well as the function failures or spurious operations of the control and instrumentation-related components. If the MCR cannot be habitable, a safe shutdown from outside the MCR can be achieved and maintained at an alternate shutdown panel independent from the MCR. When the fire modeling for an electrical cabinet such as an MCB was performed, its many input parameters can affect the fire simulation results. This study results showed that the decrease in the height of fire ignition place and the use of single fire ignition place in fire modeling for the propagating fire shortened MCR abandonment time.

  9. Predicting Potential Fire Severity Using Vegetation, Topography and Surface Moisture Availability in a Eurasian Boreal Forest Landscape

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lei Fang

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Severity of wildfires is a critical component of the fire regime and plays an important role in determining forest ecosystem response to fire disturbance. Predicting spatial distribution of potential fire severity can be valuable in guiding fire and fuel management planning. Spatial controls on fire severity patterns have attracted growing interest, but few studies have attempted to predict potential fire severity in fire-prone Eurasian boreal forests. Furthermore, the influences of fire weather variation on spatial heterogeneity of fire severity remain poorly understood at fine scales. We assessed the relative importance and influence of pre-fire vegetation, topography, and surface moisture availability (SMA on fire severity in 21 lightning-ignited fires occurring in two different fire years (3 fires in 2000, 18 fires in 2010 of the Great Xing’an Mountains with an ensemble modeling approach of boosted regression tree (BRT. SMA was derived from 8-day moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS evapotranspiration products. We predicted the potential distribution of fire severity in two fire years and evaluated the prediction accuracies. BRT modeling revealed that vegetation, topography, and SMA explained more than 70% of variations in fire severity (mean 83.0% for 2000, mean 73.8% for 2010. Our analysis showed that evergreen coniferous forests were more likely to experience higher severity fires than the dominant deciduous larch forests of this region, and deciduous broadleaf forests and shrublands usually burned at a significantly lower fire severity. High-severity fires tended to occur in gentle and well-drained slopes at high altitudes, especially those with north-facing aspects. SMA exhibited notable and consistent negative association with severity. Predicted fire severity from our model exhibited strong agreement with the observed fire severity (mean r2 = 0.795 for 2000, 0.618 for 2010. Our results verified that spatial variation

  10. Fire protection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Janetzky, E.

    1980-01-01

    Safety and fire prevention measurements have to be treated like the activities developing, planning, construction and erection. Therefore it is necessary that these measurements have to be integrated into the activities mentioned above at an early stage in order to guarantee their effectiveness. With regard to fire accidents the statistics of the insurance companies concerned show that the damage caused increased in the last years mainly due to high concentration of material. Organization of fire prevention and fire fighting, reasons of fire break out, characteristics and behaviour of fire, smoke and fire detection, smoke and heat venting, fire extinguishers (portable and stationary), construction material in presence of fire, respiratory protection etc. will be discussed. (orig./RW)

  11. Evidence of fuels management and fire weather influencing fire severity in an extreme fire event.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lydersen, Jamie M; Collins, Brandon M; Brooks, Matthew L; Matchett, John R; Shive, Kristen L; Povak, Nicholas A; Kane, Van R; Smith, Douglas F

    2017-10-01

    Following changes in vegetation structure and pattern, along with a changing climate, large wildfire incidence has increased in forests throughout the western United States. Given this increase, there is great interest in whether fuels treatments and previous wildfire can alter fire severity patterns in large wildfires. We assessed the relative influence of previous fuels treatments (including wildfire), fire weather, vegetation, and water balance on fire-severity in the Rim Fire of 2013. We did this at three different spatial scales to investigate whether the influences on fire severity changed across scales. Both fuels treatments and previous low to moderate-severity wildfire reduced the prevalence of high-severity fire. In general, areas without recent fuels treatments and areas that previously burned at high severity tended to have a greater proportion of high-severity fire in the Rim Fire. Areas treated with prescribed fire, especially when combined with thinning, had the lowest proportions of high severity. The proportion of the landscape burned at high severity was most strongly influenced by fire weather and proportional area previously treated for fuels or burned by low to moderate severity wildfire. The proportion treated needed to effectively reduce the amount of high severity fire varied by spatial scale of analysis, with smaller spatial scales requiring a greater proportion treated to see an effect on fire severity. When moderate and high-severity fire encountered a previously treated area, fire severity was significantly reduced in the treated area relative to the adjacent untreated area. Our results show that fuels treatments and low to moderate-severity wildfire can reduce fire severity in a subsequent wildfire, even when burning under fire growth conditions. These results serve as further evidence that both fuels treatments and lower severity wildfire can increase forest resilience. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

  12. Laboratory fire behavior measurements of chaparral crown fire

    Science.gov (United States)

    C. Sanpakit; S. Omodan; D. Weise; M Princevac

    2015-01-01

    In 2013, there was an estimated 9,900 wildland fires that claimed more than 577,000 acres of land. That same year, about 542 prescribed fires were used to treat 48,554 acres by several agencies in California. Being able to understand fires using laboratory models can better prepare individuals to combat or use fires. Our research focused on chaparral crown fires....

  13. Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on flora

    Science.gov (United States)

    James K. Brown; Jane Kapler Smith

    2000-01-01

    VOLUME 2: This state-of-knowledge review about the effects of fire on flora and fuels can assist land managers with ecosystem and fire management planning and in their efforts to inform others about the ecological role of fire. Chapter topics include fire regime classification, autecological effects of fire, fire regime characteristics and postfire plant community...

  14. The importance of fire simulation in fire prediction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jevtić Radoje B.

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The appearance of fire in objects with lot of humans inside represents very possible real situation that could be very danger and could cause destructive consequences on human lives and material properties. Very important influence in fire prediction, fire protection, human and material properties safety could be a fire simulation in object. This simulation could give many useful information of possible fire propagation; possible and existed evacuation routes; possible and exited placing of fire, smoke, temperature conditions in object and many other information of crucial importance for human lives and material properties, such as the best places for sensors position, optimal number of sensors, projection of possible evacuation routes etc. There are many different programs for fire simulation. This paper presents complete fire simulation in Electrotechnical school Nikola Tesla in Niš in FDS.

  15. Forest fire occurrence and silvicultural-economic prerequisites for protection improvement in forest regions of Krasnoyarsk Krai

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. V. Furyaev

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The territory of the Krasnoyarsk Krai is substantially diverse in terms of climatic, silvicultural and economic conditions owing to its sufficient spread from the North to the South. These differences were to some extent taken into account when the forest fund of the Krasnoyarsk Krai was divided into seven forest regions: forest tundra of Central Siberia, highland taiga of Central Siberia, plain taiga of West Siberia, Angara region, subtaiga forest steppe of Central Siberia, Altai-Sayanskiy highland, Altai-Sayanskiy highland forest steppe. The regions show different levels of fire occurrence and different fire effects that require different levels of protection from forest fires. Optimization of the protection is based on activities that combine prevention and timely detection of fires depending on development of forest regions and intensity of forest management. The main focus of the paper is on possibility or inadvisability of prescribed fires, fire-use fires (fires that started naturally but were then managed for their beneficial effects and the system of activities increasing fire resistance of the most valuable forests. It is justified that taking into account the effects of forest fires, selective protection of forests is expedient in forest-tundra Middle Siberia and highland taiga of Middle Siberia regions. The whole area of plain taiga of West Siberia region should be subject to protection but with various levels of intensity in different parts of it. The forest fund of Angara, subtaiga forest steppe of Middle Siberia, Altai-Sayanskiy highland, Altai-Sayanskiy highland forest steppe regions should be protected on the whole area. Application of prescribed fires is relevant in the subzone of South taiga, in the forest steppe zone as well as in the submontane and lowland taiga belts. Fire-use fires are admissible on limited areas in the subzones of Middle and North taiga.

  16. Valuing fire planning alternatives in forest restoration: using derived demand to integrate economics with ecological restoration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rideout, Douglas B; Ziesler, Pamela S; Kernohan, Nicole J

    2014-08-01

    Assessing the value of fire planning alternatives is challenging because fire affects a wide array of ecosystem, market, and social values. Wildland fire management is increasingly used to address forest restoration while pragmatic approaches to assessing the value of fire management have yet to be developed. Earlier approaches to assessing the value of forest management relied on connecting site valuation with management variables. While sound, such analysis is too narrow to account for a broad range of ecosystem services. The metric fire regime condition class (FRCC) was developed from ecosystem management philosophy, but it is entirely biophysical. Its lack of economic information cripples its utility to support decision-making. We present a means of defining and assessing the deviation of a landscape from its desired fire management condition by re-framing the fire management problem as one of derived demand. This valued deviation establishes a performance metric for wildland fire management. Using a case study, we display the deviation across a landscape and sum the deviations to produce a summary metric. This summary metric is used to assess the value of alternative fire management strategies on improving the fire management condition toward its desired state. It enables us to identify which sites are most valuable to restore, even when they are in the same fire regime condition class. The case study site exemplifies how a wide range of disparate values, such as watershed, wildlife, property and timber, can be incorporated into a single landscape assessment. The analysis presented here leverages previous research on environmental capital value and non-market valuation by integrating ecosystem management, restoration, and microeconomics. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Adsorber fires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holmes, W.

    1987-01-01

    The following conclusions are offered with respect to activated charcoal filter systems in nuclear power plants: (1) The use of activated charcoal in nuclear facilities presents a potential for deep-seated fires. (2) The defense-in-depth approach to nuclear fire safety requires that if an ignition should occur, fires must be detected quickly and subsequently suppressed. (3) Deep-seated fires in charcoal beds are difficult to extinguish. (4) Automatic water sprays can be used to extinguish fires rapidly and reliably when properly introduced into the burning medium. The second part of the conclusions offered are more like challenges: (1) The problem associated with inadvertent actuations of fire protection systems is not a major one, and it can be reduced further by proper design review, installation, testing, and maintenance. Eliminating automatic fire extinguishing systems for the protection of charcoal adsorbers is not justified. (2) Removal of automatic fire protection systems due to fear of inadvertent fire protection system operation is a case of treating the effect rather than the cause. On the other hand, properly maintaining automatic fire protection systems will preserve the risk of fire loss at acceptable levels while at the same time reducing the risk of damage presented by inadvertent operation of fire protection systems

  18. Recovering valuable shale oils, etc

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Engler, C

    1922-09-26

    A process is described for the recovery of valuable shale oils or tars, characterized in that the oil shale is heated to about 300/sup 0/C or a temperature not exceeding this essentially and then is treated with a solvent with utilization of this heat.

  19. Fast and safe gas detection from underground coal fire by drone fly over.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dunnington, Lucila; Nakagawa, Masami

    2017-10-01

    Underground coal fires start naturally or as a result of human activities. Besides burning away the important non-renewable energy resource and causing financial losses, burning coal seams emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide and methane, and is a leading cause of smog, acid rain, global warming, and air toxins. In the U.S. alone, the combined cost of coal-fire remediation projects that have been completed, budgeted, or projected by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Remediation and Enforcement (OSM), exceeds $1 billion. It is estimated that these fires generate as much as 3% of the world's annual carbon dioxide emissions and consume as much as 5% of its minable coal. Considering the magnitude of environmental impact and economic loss caused by burning underground coal seams, we have developed a new, safe, reliable surface measurement of coal fire gases to assess the nature of underground coal fires. We use a drone mounted with gas sensors. Drone collected gas concentration data provides a safe alternative for evaluating the rank of a burning coal seam. In this study, a new method of determining coal rank by gas ratios is developed. Coal rank is valuable for defining parameters of a coal seam such as burn temperature, burn rate, and volume of burning seam. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Environmental protection and recovery of valuable feedstocks using carbon containing adsorbents. Developments and trends of Bergbau-Forschung GmbH

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Knoblauch, K; Richter, E

    1986-06-01

    Activated carbons, active cokes and carbon molecular sieves are used for regenerative processes for environmental protection and for processing of valuable feedstocks. Development of adsorption processes and their lay-out base on adsorption equilibria, adsorption kinetics, kinetics of desorption by heating, depressurization or purging not only as single steps but in the same combination as in the regenerative process. For example, some adsorption processes are described which are applied in pilot scale or industrially: Nitrogen production from air by pressure swing adsorption (PSA); Hydrogen production from coke oven gas by PSA; Upgrading of methane from biogas and from fire damp; Removal of hydrogen sulfide from biogas; Removal of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from flue gases and drinking water supply and waste water treatment.

  1. Risk assessment of main control board fire using fire dynamics simulator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Dae Il, E-mail: dikang@kaeri.re.kr [KAERI, 1045 Daedeokdaero, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon 305-353 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Kilyoo; Jang, Seung-Cheol [KAERI, 1045 Daedeokdaero, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon 305-353 (Korea, Republic of); Yoo, Seong Yeon [Chungnam National University, 79, Daehagro, Yuseong-Gu, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-08-15

    Highlights: • A decision tree for evaluating the risk of a main control board (MCB) fire was proposed to systematically determine the MCB fire scenarios. • Fire simulations using fire dynamics simulator (FDS) were performed to estimate the time to MCR abandonment. • Non-propagating and propagating fire scenarios were considered for fire simulations. • The current study indicates that the quantification of the MCB fire risk should address the propagating fire and non-propagating fire scenarios if the MCB has no internal barriers between the panels. - Abstract: This paper presents the process and results of a risk assessment for a main control board (MCB) fire using fire dynamics simulator (FDS). A decision tree for evaluating the risk of a MCB fire was proposed to systematically determine the MCB fire scenarios, and fire simulations using FDS were performed to estimate the time to MCR abandonment. As a reference NPP for this study, Hanul unit 3 in Korea was selected and its core damage frequency (CDF) owing to the MCB fire was quantified. Two types of fire scenarios were considered for fire simulations: non-propagating fire scenarios occurring within a single MCB panel and propagating fire scenarios spreading from one control panel to the adjacent panels. Further, the fire scenarios were classified into fires with and without a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVACS). The fire simulation results showed that the major factor causing the MCR evacuation was the optical density irrelevant to the availability of the HVACS. The risk assessment results showed that the abandonment fire scenario risk was less than the non-abandonment fire scenario risk and the propagating fire scenario risk was greater than the non-propagating fire scenario risk.

  2. Risk assessment of main control board fire using fire dynamics simulator

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Dae Il; Kim, Kilyoo; Jang, Seung-Cheol; Yoo, Seong Yeon

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • A decision tree for evaluating the risk of a main control board (MCB) fire was proposed to systematically determine the MCB fire scenarios. • Fire simulations using fire dynamics simulator (FDS) were performed to estimate the time to MCR abandonment. • Non-propagating and propagating fire scenarios were considered for fire simulations. • The current study indicates that the quantification of the MCB fire risk should address the propagating fire and non-propagating fire scenarios if the MCB has no internal barriers between the panels. - Abstract: This paper presents the process and results of a risk assessment for a main control board (MCB) fire using fire dynamics simulator (FDS). A decision tree for evaluating the risk of a MCB fire was proposed to systematically determine the MCB fire scenarios, and fire simulations using FDS were performed to estimate the time to MCR abandonment. As a reference NPP for this study, Hanul unit 3 in Korea was selected and its core damage frequency (CDF) owing to the MCB fire was quantified. Two types of fire scenarios were considered for fire simulations: non-propagating fire scenarios occurring within a single MCB panel and propagating fire scenarios spreading from one control panel to the adjacent panels. Further, the fire scenarios were classified into fires with and without a heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system (HVACS). The fire simulation results showed that the major factor causing the MCR evacuation was the optical density irrelevant to the availability of the HVACS. The risk assessment results showed that the abandonment fire scenario risk was less than the non-abandonment fire scenario risk and the propagating fire scenario risk was greater than the non-propagating fire scenario risk

  3. Unraveling aminophosphine redox mechanisms for glovebox-free InP quantum dot syntheses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laufersky, Geoffry; Bradley, Siobhan; Frécaut, Elian; Lein, Matthias; Nann, Thomas

    2018-05-10

    The synthesis of colloidal indium phosphide quantum dots (InP QDs) has always been plagued by difficulties arising from limited P3- sources. Being effectively restricted to the highly pyrophoric tris(trimethylsilyl) phosphine (TMS3P) creates complications for the average chemist and presents a significant risk for industrially scaled reactions. The adaptation of tris(dialkylamino) phosphines for these syntheses has garnered attention, as these new phosphines are much safer and can generate nanoparticles with competitive photoluminescence properties to those from (TMS)3P routes. Until now, the reaction mechanics of this precursor were elusive due to many experimental optimizations, such as the inclusion of a high concentration of zinc salts, being atypical of previous InP syntheses. Herein, we utilize density functional theory calculations to outline a logical reaction mechanism. The aminophosphine precursor is found to require activation by a zinc halide before undergoing a disproportionation reaction to self-reduce this P(iii) material to a P(-iii) source. We use this understanding to adapt this precursor for a two-pot nanoparticle synthesis in a noncoordinating solvent outside of glovebox conditions. This allowed us to generate spherical InP/ZnS nanoparticles possessing fluorescence quantum yields >55% and lifetimes as fast as 48 ns, with tunable emission according to varying zinc halide acidity. The development of high quality and efficient InP QDs with this safer aminophosphine in simple Schlenk environments will enable a broader range of researchers to synthesize these nontoxic materials for a variety of high-value applications.

  4. Fire-Walking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Willey, David

    2010-01-01

    This article gives a brief history of fire-walking and then deals with the physics behind fire-walking. The author has performed approximately 50 fire-walks, took the data for the world's hottest fire-walk and was, at one time, a world record holder for the longest fire-walk (www.dwilley.com/HDATLTW/Record_Making_Firewalks.html). He currently…

  5. Forest-fire models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haiganoush Preisler; Alan Ager

    2013-01-01

    For applied mathematicians forest fire models refer mainly to a non-linear dynamic system often used to simulate spread of fire. For forest managers forest fire models may pertain to any of the three phases of fire management: prefire planning (fire risk models), fire suppression (fire behavior models), and postfire evaluation (fire effects and economic models). In...

  6. Fire Perimeters

    Data.gov (United States)

    California Natural Resource Agency — The Fire Perimeters data consists of CDF fires 300 acres and greater in size and USFS fires 10 acres and greater throughout California from 1950 to 2003. Some fires...

  7. Fire History

    Data.gov (United States)

    California Natural Resource Agency — The Fire Perimeters data consists of CDF fires 300 acres and greater in size and USFS fires 10 acres and greater throughout California from 1950 to 2002. Some fires...

  8. Electronic firing systems and methods for firing a device

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frickey, Steven J [Boise, ID; Svoboda, John M [Idaho Falls, ID

    2012-04-24

    An electronic firing system comprising a control system, a charging system, an electrical energy storage device, a shock tube firing circuit, a shock tube connector, a blasting cap firing circuit, and a blasting cap connector. The control system controls the charging system, which charges the electrical energy storage device. The control system also controls the shock tube firing circuit and the blasting cap firing circuit. When desired, the control system signals the shock tube firing circuit or blasting cap firing circuit to electrically connect the electrical energy storage device to the shock tube connector or the blasting cap connector respectively.

  9. Fire weather conditions and fire-atmosphere interactions observed during low-intensity prescribed fires - RxCADRE 2012

    Science.gov (United States)

    Craig B. Clements; Neil P. Lareau; Daisuke Seto; Jonathan Contezac; Braniff Davis; Casey Teske; Thomas J. Zajkowski; Andrew T. Hudak; Benjamin C. Bright; Matthew B. Dickinson; Bret W. Butler; Daniel Jimenez; J. Kevin. Hiers

    2016-01-01

    The role of fire-atmosphere coupling on fire behaviour is not well established, and to date few field observations have been made to investigate the interactions between fire spread and fire-induced winds. Therefore, comprehensive field observations are needed to better understand micrometeorological aspects of fire spread. To address this need, meteorological...

  10. Community participation in fire management planning: The Trinity county fire safe council's fire plan

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yvonne Everett

    2008-01-01

    In 1999, Trinity County CA, initiated a participatory fire management planning effort. Since that time, the Trinity County Fire Safe Council has completed critical portions of a fire safe plan and has begun to implement projects defined in the plan. Completion of a GIS based, landscape scale fuels reduction element in the plan defined by volunteer fire fighters, agency...

  11. Duration of fuels reduction following prescribed fire in coniferous forests of U.S. national parks in California and the Colorado Plateau

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Mantgem, Phillip J.; Lalemand, Laura; Keifer, MaryBeth; Kane, Jeffrey M.

    2016-01-01

    Prescribed fire is a widely used forest management tool, yet the long-term effectiveness of prescribed fire in reducing fuels and fire hazards in many vegetation types is not well documented. We assessed the magnitude and duration of reductions in surface fuels and modeled fire hazards in coniferous forests across nine U.S. national parks in California and the Colorado Plateau. We used observations from a prescribed fire effects monitoring program that feature standard forest and surface fuels inventories conducted pre-fire, immediately following an initial (first-entry) prescribed fire and at varying intervals up to >20 years post-fire. A subset of these plots was subjected to prescribed fire again (second-entry) with continued monitoring. Prescribed fire effects were highly variable among plots, but we found on average first-entry fires resulted in a significant post-fire reduction in surface fuels, with litter and duff fuels not returning to pre-fire levels over the length of our observations. Fine and coarse woody fuels often took a decade or longer to return to pre-fire levels. For second-entry fires we found continued fuels reductions, without strong evidence of fuel loads returning to levels observed immediately prior to second-entry fire. Following both first- and second-entry fire there were increases in estimated canopy base heights, along with reductions in estimated canopy bulk density and modeled flame lengths. We did not find evidence of return to pre-fire conditions during our observation intervals for these measures of fire hazard. Our results show that prescribed fire can be a valuable tool to reduce fire hazards and, depending on forest conditions and the measurement used, reductions in fire hazard can last for decades. Second-entry prescribed fire appeared to reinforce the reduction in fuels and fire hazard from first-entry fires.

  12. Managing wildland fires: integrating weather models into fire projections

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anne M. Rosenthal; Francis Fujioka

    2004-01-01

    Flames from the Old Fire sweep through lands north of San Bernardino during late fall of 2003. Like many Southern California fires, the Old Fire consumed susceptible forests at the urban-wildland interface and spread to nearby city neighborhoods. By incorporating weather models into fire perimeter projections, scientist Francis Fujioka is improving fire modeling as a...

  13. Enhancing adaptive capacity for restoring fire-dependent ecosystems: the Fire Learning Network's Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew G. Spencer

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Prescribed fire is a critical tool for promoting restoration and increasing resilience in fire-adapted ecosystems, but there are barriers to its use, including a shortage of personnel with adequate ecological knowledge and operational expertise to implement prescribed fire across multijurisdictional landscapes. In the United States, recognized needs for both professional development and increased use of fire are not being met, often because of institutional limitations. The Fire Learning Network has been characterized as a multiscalar, collaborative network that works to enhance the adaptive capacity of fire management institutions, and this network developed the Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (TREXs to address persistent challenges in increasing the capacity for prescribed fire implementation. Our research was designed to investigate where fire professionals face professional barriers, how the TREX addresses these, and in what ways the TREX may be contributing to the adaptive capacity of fire management institutions. We evaluated the training model using surveys, interviews, focus groups, and participant observation. We found that, although the training events cannot overcome all institutional barriers, they incorporate the key components of professional development in fire; foster collaboration, learning, and network building; and provide flexible opportunities with an emphasis on local context to train a variety of professionals with disparate needs. The strategy also offers an avenue for overcoming barriers faced by contingent and nonfederal fire professionals in attaining training and operational experience, thereby increasing the variety of actors and resources involved in fire management. Although it is an incremental step, the TREX is contributing to the adaptive capacity of institutions in social-ecological systems in which fire is a critical ecological process.

  14. US Fire Administration Fire Statistics

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Homeland Security — The U.S. Fire Administration collects data from a variety of sources to provide information and analyses on the status and scope of the fire problem in the United...

  15. Experimental study of fire barriers preventing vertical fire spread in ETISs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xin Huang

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, the external thermal insulation system (ETIS has been applied increasingly in a large amount of buildings for energy conservation purpose. However, the increase use of combustible insulation materials in the ETIS has raised serious fire safety problems. Fires involving this type of ETIS have caused severe damage and loss. In order to improve its fire safety, fire barriers were suggested to be installed. This paper introduces fire experiments that have been done to study the effects of fire barriers on preventing vertical fire spread along the ETIS. The experiments were performed according to BS 8414-1:2002 “Fire performance of external cladding systems – Part 1: Test method for non-loadbearing external cladding systems applied to the face of the building”. The test facility consists of a 9 m high wall. The fire sources were wood cribs with a fire size of 3 ± 0.5 MW. The insulation materials were expanded polystyrene foam (EPS. The fire barrier was a horizontal strip of rockwool with a width of 300 mm. Thermocouples were used to measure temperatures outside and inside the ETIS. A series of experiments with different fire scenarios were done: no fire barrier, two fire barriers and three fire barriers at different heights. Test results were compared. The results show that the ETIS using EPS without fire barriers almost burned out, while the ETIS with fire barriers performed well in preventing fire spread. The temperatures above the fire barrier were much lower than those below the fire barrier, and most of the insulation materials above the top fire barrier stayed in place.

  16. Optimizing prescribed fire allocation for managing fire risk in central Catalonia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alcasena, Fermín J; Ager, Alan A; Salis, Michele; Day, Michelle A; Vega-Garcia, Cristina

    2018-04-15

    We used spatial optimization to allocate and prioritize prescribed fire treatments in the fire-prone Bages County, central Catalonia (northeastern Spain). The goal of this study was to identify suitable strategic locations on forest lands for fuel treatments in order to: 1) disrupt major fire movements, 2) reduce ember emissions, and 3) reduce the likelihood of large fires burning into residential communities. We first modeled fire spread, hazard and exposure metrics under historical extreme fire weather conditions, including node influence grid for surface fire pathways, crown fraction burned and fire transmission to residential structures. Then, we performed an optimization analysis on individual planning areas to identify production possibility frontiers for addressing fire exposure and explore alternative prescribed fire treatment configurations. The results revealed strong trade-offs among different fire exposure metrics, showed treatment mosaics that optimize the allocation of prescribed fire, and identified specific opportunities to achieve multiple objectives. Our methods can contribute to improving the efficiency of prescribed fire treatment investments and wildfire management programs aimed at creating fire resilient ecosystems, facilitating safe and efficient fire suppression, and safeguarding rural communities from catastrophic wildfires. The analysis framework can be used to optimally allocate prescribed fire in other fire-prone areas within the Mediterranean region and elsewhere. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Factors involved in dental surgery fires: a review of the literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanCleave, Andrea M; Jones, James E; McGlothlin, James D; Saxen, Mark A; Sanders, Brian J; Walker, LaQuia A

    2014-01-01

    Surgical fires are well-characterized, readily preventable, potentially devastating operating room catastrophes that continue to occur from 20 to 100 times per year or, by one estimate, up to 600 times per year in US operating rooms, sometimes with fatal results. The most significant risk factors for surgical fires involve (a) the use of an ignition source, such as laser or electrocautery equipment, in or around an oxygen-enriched environment in the head, neck, and upper torso area and (b) the concurrent delivery of supplemental oxygen, especially via nasal cannula. Nonetheless, while these 2 conditions occur very commonly in dental surgery, especially in pediatric dental surgery where sedation and anesthesia are regularly indicated, there is a general absence of documented dental surgical fires in the literature. Barring the possibility of underreporting for fear of litigation, this may suggest that there is another mechanism or mechanisms present in dental or pediatric dental surgery that mitigates this worst-case risk of surgical fires. Some possible explanations for this include: greater fire safety awareness by dental practitioners, incidental ventilation of oxygen-enriched environments in patient oral cavities due to breathing, or suction used by dental practitioners during procedures. This review of the literature provides a background to suggest that the practice of using intraoral suction in conjunction with the use of supplemental oxygen during dental procedures may alter the conditions needed for the initiation of intraoral fires. To date, there appear to be no published studies describing the ability of intraoral suctioning devices to alter the ambient oxygen concentration in an intraoral environment. In vivo models that would allow examination of intraoral suction on the ambient oxygen concentration in a simulated intraoral environment may then provide a valuable foundation for evaluating the safety of current clinical dental surgical practices

  18. Enhanced Fire Events Database to Support Fire PRA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baranowsky, Patrick; Canavan, Ken; St. Germain, Shawn

    2010-01-01

    This paper provides a description of the updated and enhanced Fire Events Data Base (FEDB) developed by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) in cooperation with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The FEDB is the principal source of fire incident operational data for use in fire PRAs. It provides a comprehensive and consolidated source of fire incident information for nuclear power plants operating in the U.S. The database classification scheme identifies important attributes of fire incidents to characterize their nature, causal factors, and severity consistent with available data. The database provides sufficient detail to delineate important plant specific attributes of the incidents to the extent practical. A significant enhancement to the updated FEDB is the reorganization and refinement of the database structure and data fields and fire characterization details added to more rigorously capture the nature and magnitude of the fire and damage to the ignition source and nearby equipment and structures.

  19. Fire Behavior (FB)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert E. Keane

    2006-01-01

    The Fire Behavior (FB) method is used to describe the behavior of the fire and the ambient weather and fuel conditions that influence the fire behavior. Fire behavior methods are not plot based and are collected by fire event and time-date. In general, the fire behavior data are used to interpret the fire effects documented in the plot-level sampling. Unlike the other...

  20. Post-disturbance plant community dynamics following a rare natural-origin fire in a Tsuga canadensis forest.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bryan D Murray

    Full Text Available Opportunities to directly study infrequent forest disturbance events often lead to valuable information about vegetation dynamics. In mesic temperate forests of North America, stand-replacing crown fire occurs infrequently, with a return interval of 2000-3000 years. Rare chance events, however, may have profound impacts on the developmental trajectories of forest ecosystems. For example, it has been postulated that stand-replacing fire may have been an important factor in the establishment of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis stands in the northern Great Lakes region. Nevertheless, experimental evidence linking hemlock regeneration to non-anthropogenic fire is limited. To clarify this potential relationship, we monitored vegetation dynamics following a rare lightning-origin crown fire in a Wisconsin hemlock-hardwood forest. We also studied vegetation in bulldozer-created fire breaks and adjacent undisturbed forest. Our results indicate that hemlock establishment was rare in the burned area but moderately common in the scarified bulldozer lines compared to the reference area. Early-successional, non-arboreal species including Rubus spp., Vaccinium angustifolium, sedges (Carex spp., grasses, Epilobium ciliatum, and Pteridium aquilinium were the most abundant post-fire species. Collectively, our results suggest that competing vegetation and moisture stress resulting from drought may reduce the efficacy of scarification treatments as well as the usefulness of fire for preparing a suitable seedbed for hemlock. The increasing prevalence of growing-season drought suggests that silvicultural strategies based on historic disturbance regimes may need to be reevaluated for mesic species.

  1. Detection and Characterization of Low Temperature Peat Fires during the 2015 Fire Catastrophe in Indonesia Using a New High-Sensitivity Fire Monitoring Satellite Sensor (FireBird).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atwood, Elizabeth C; Englhart, Sandra; Lorenz, Eckehard; Halle, Winfried; Wiedemann, Werner; Siegert, Florian

    2016-01-01

    Vast and disastrous fires occurred on Borneo during the 2015 dry season, pushing Indonesia into the top five carbon emitting countries. The region was affected by a very strong El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate phenomenon, on par with the last severe event in 1997/98. Fire dynamics in Central Kalimantan were investigated using an innovative sensor offering higher sensitivity to a wider range of fire intensities at a finer spatial resolution (160 m) than heretofore available. The sensor is onboard the TET-1 satellite, part of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) FireBird mission. TET-1 images (acquired every 2-3 days) from the middle infrared were used to detect fires continuously burning for almost three weeks in the protected peatlands of Sebangau National Park as well as surrounding areas with active logging and oil palm concessions. TET-1 detection capabilities were compared with MODIS active fire detection and Landsat burned area algorithms. Fire dynamics, including fire front propagation speed and area burned, were investigated. We show that TET-1 has improved detection capabilities over MODIS in monitoring low-intensity peatland fire fronts through thick smoke and haze. Analysis of fire dynamics revealed that the largest burned areas resulted from fire front lines started from multiple locations, and the highest propagation speeds were in excess of 500 m/day (all over peat > 2m deep). Fires were found to occur most often in concessions that contained drainage infrastructure but were not cleared prior to the fire season. Benefits of implementing this sensor system to improve current fire management techniques are discussed. Near real-time fire detection together with enhanced fire behavior monitoring capabilities would not only improve firefighting efforts, but also benefit analysis of fire impact on tropical peatlands, greenhouse gas emission estimations as well as mitigation measures to reduce severe fire events in the future.

  2. Fire-driven alien invasion in a fire-adapted ecosystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keeley, Jon E.; Brennan, Teresa J.

    2012-01-01

    Disturbance plays a key role in many alien plant invasions. However, often the main driver of invasion is not disturbance per se but alterations in the disturbance regime. In some fire-adapted shrublands, the community is highly resilient to infrequent, high-intensity fires, but changes in the fire regime that result in shorter fire intervals may make these communities more susceptible to alien plant invasions. This study examines several wildfire events that resulted in short fire intervals in California chaparral shrublands. In one study, we compared postfire recovery patterns in sites with different prefire stand ages (3 and 24 years), and in another study we compared sites that had burned once in four years with sites that had burned twice in this period. The population size of the dominant native shrub Adenostoma fasciculatum was drastically reduced following fire in the 3-year sites relative to the 24-year sites. The 3-year sites had much greater alien plant cover and significantly lower plant diversity than the 24-year sites. In a separate study, repeat fires four years apart on the same sites showed that annual species increased significantly after the second fire, and alien annuals far outnumbered native annuals. Aliens included both annual grasses and annual forbs and were negatively correlated with woody plant cover. Native woody species regenerated well after the first fire but declined after the second fire, and one obligate seeding shrub was extirpated from two sites by the repeat fires. It is concluded that some fire-adapted shrublands are vulnerable to changes in fire regime, and this can lead to a loss of native diversity and put the community on a trajectory towards type conversion from a woody to an herbaceous system. Such changes result in alterations in the proportion of natives to non-natives, changes in functional types from deeply rooted shrubs to shallow rooted grasses and forbs, increased fire frequency due to the increase in fine fuels

  3. Fire-driven alien invasion in a fire-adapted ecosystem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keeley, Jon E; Brennan, Teresa J

    2012-08-01

    Disturbance plays a key role in many alien plant invasions. However, often the main driver of invasion is not disturbance per se but alterations in the disturbance regime. In some fire-adapted shrublands, the community is highly resilient to infrequent, high-intensity fires, but changes in the fire regime that result in shorter fire intervals may make these communities more susceptible to alien plant invasions. This study examines several wildfire events that resulted in short fire intervals in California chaparral shrublands. In one study, we compared postfire recovery patterns in sites with different prefire stand ages (3 and 24 years), and in another study we compared sites that had burned once in four years with sites that had burned twice in this period. The population size of the dominant native shrub Adenostoma fasciculatum was drastically reduced following fire in the 3-year sites relative to the 24-year sites. The 3-year sites had much greater alien plant cover and significantly lower plant diversity than the 24-year sites. In a separate study, repeat fires four years apart on the same sites showed that annual species increased significantly after the second fire, and alien annuals far outnumbered native annuals. Aliens included both annual grasses and annual forbs and were negatively correlated with woody plant cover. Native woody species regenerated well after the first fire but declined after the second fire, and one obligate seeding shrub was extirpated from two sites by the repeat fires. It is concluded that some fire-adapted shrublands are vulnerable to changes in fire regime, and this can lead to a loss of native diversity and put the community on a trajectory towards type conversion from a woody to an herbaceous system. Such changes result in alterations in the proportion of natives to non-natives, changes in functional types from deeply rooted shrubs to shallow rooted grasses and forbs, increased fire frequency due to the increase in fine fuels

  4. Semantic Document Image Classification Based on Valuable Text Pattern

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hossein Pourghassem

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge extraction from detected document image is a complex problem in the field of information technology. This problem becomes more intricate when we know, a negligible percentage of the detected document images are valuable. In this paper, a segmentation-based classification algorithm is used to analysis the document image. In this algorithm, using a two-stage segmentation approach, regions of the image are detected, and then classified to document and non-document (pure region regions in the hierarchical classification. In this paper, a novel valuable definition is proposed to classify document image in to valuable or invaluable categories. The proposed algorithm is evaluated on a database consisting of the document and non-document image that provide from Internet. Experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm in the semantic document image classification. The proposed algorithm provides accuracy rate of 98.8% for valuable and invaluable document image classification problem.

  5. Valuable Internet Advertising and Customer Satisfaction Cycle(VIACSC)

    OpenAIRE

    Muhammad Awais; Tanzila Samin; Muhammad Bilal

    2012-01-01

    Now-a-days it is very important for the business persons to attract their target customers towards their products through valuable mode of promotion and communication. Increasing use of World Wide Web has completely changed the scenario of business sector. Customized products and services, customers preferences, @ and dot com craze have elevated the importance of internet advertising. This research paper investigates valuable internet advertising which will help to enhance the value of intern...

  6. Post-fire vegetation and fuel development influences fire severity patterns in reburns.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coppoletta, Michelle; Merriam, Kyle E; Collins, Brandon M

    2016-04-01

    In areas where fire regimes and forest structure have been dramatically altered, there is increasing concern that contemporary fires have the potential to set forests on a positive feedback trajectory with successive reburns, one in which extensive stand-replacing fire could promote more stand-replacing fire. Our study utilized an extensive set of field plots established following four fires that occurred between 2000 and 2010 in the northern Sierra Nevada, California, USA that were subsequently reburned in 2012. The information obtained from these field plots allowed for a unique set of analyses investigating the effect of vegetation, fuels, topography, fire weather, and forest management on reburn severity. We also examined the influence of initial fire severity and time since initial fire on influential predictors of reburn severity. Our results suggest that high- to moderate-severity fire in the initial fires led to an increase in standing snags and shrub vegetation, which in combination with severe fire weather promoted high-severity fire effects in the subsequent reburn. Although fire behavior is largely driven by weather, our study demonstrates that post-fire vegetation composition and structure are also important drivers of reburn severity. In the face of changing climatic regimes and increases in extreme fire weather, these results may provide managers with options to create more fire-resilient ecosystems. In areas where frequent high-severity fire is undesirable, management activities such as thinning, prescribed fire, or managed wildland fire can be used to moderate fire behavior not only prior to initial fires, but also before subsequent reburns.

  7. Fire intensity impacts on post-fire temperate coniferous forest net primary productivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sparks, Aaron M.; Kolden, Crystal A.; Smith, Alistair M. S.; Boschetti, Luigi; Johnson, Daniel M.; Cochrane, Mark A.

    2018-02-01

    Fire is a dynamic ecological process in forests and impacts the carbon (C) cycle through direct combustion emissions, tree mortality, and by impairing the ability of surviving trees to sequester carbon. While studies on young trees have demonstrated that fire intensity is a determinant of post-fire net primary productivity, wildland fires on landscape to regional scales have largely been assumed to either cause tree mortality, or conversely, cause no physiological impact, ignoring the impacted but surviving trees. Our objective was to understand how fire intensity affects post-fire net primary productivity in conifer-dominated forested ecosystems on the spatial scale of large wildland fires. We examined the relationships between fire radiative power (FRP), its temporal integral (fire radiative energy - FRE), and net primary productivity (NPP) using 16 years of data from the MOderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) for 15 large fires in western United States coniferous forests. The greatest NPP post-fire loss occurred 1 year post-fire and ranged from -67 to -312 g C m-2 yr-1 (-13 to -54 %) across all fires. Forests dominated by fire-resistant species (species that typically survive low-intensity fires) experienced the lowest relative NPP reductions compared to forests with less resistant species. Post-fire NPP in forests that were dominated by fire-susceptible species were not as sensitive to FRP or FRE, indicating that NPP in these forests may be reduced to similar levels regardless of fire intensity. Conversely, post-fire NPP in forests dominated by fire-resistant and mixed species decreased with increasing FRP or FRE. In some cases, this dose-response relationship persisted for more than a decade post-fire, highlighting a legacy effect of fire intensity on post-fire C dynamics in these forests.

  8. A Method of Fire Scenarios Identification in a Consolidated Fire Risk Analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lim, Ho Gon; Han, Sang Hoon; Yang, Joon Eon

    2010-01-01

    Conventional fire PSA consider only two cases of fire scenarios, that is one for fire without propagation and the other for single propagation to neighboring compartment. Recently, a consolidated fire risk analysis using single fault tree (FT) was developed. However, the fire scenario identification in the new method is similar to conventional fire analysis method. The present study develops a new method of fire scenario identification in a consolidated fire risk analysis method. An equation for fire propagation is developed to identify fire scenario and a mapping method of fire scenarios into internal event risk model is discussed. Finally, an algorithm for automatic program is suggested

  9. Fire and fire ecology: Concepts and principles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mark A. Cochrane; Kevin C. Ryan

    2009-01-01

    Fire has been central to terrestrial life ever since early anaerobic microorganisms poisoned the atmosphere with oxygen and multicellular plant life moved onto land. The combination of fuels, oxygen, and heat gave birth to fire on Earth. Fire is not just another evolutionary challenge that life needed to overcome, it is, in fact, a core ecological process across much...

  10. Forest fires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fuller, M.

    1991-01-01

    This book examines the many complex and sensitive issues relating to wildland fires. Beginning with an overview of the fires of 1980s, the book discusses the implications of continued drought and considers the behavior of wildland fires, from ignition and spread to spotting and firestorms. Topics include the effects of weather, forest fuels, fire ecology, and the effects of fire on plants and animals. In addition, the book examines firefighting methods and equipment, including new minimum impact techniques and compressed air foam; prescribed burning; and steps that can be taken to protect individuals and human structures. A history of forest fire policies in the U.S. and a discussion of solutions to fire problems around the world completes the coverage. With one percent of the earth's surface burning every year in the last decade, this is a penetrating book on a subject of undeniable importance

  11. Water Level and Fire Regulate Carbon Sequestration in a Subtropical Peat Marsh

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graham, S.; Sumner, D.; Shoemaker, B.; Benscoter, B.; Hinkle, C. R.

    2014-12-01

    Managed wetlands provide valuable ecosystem services, including carbon storage. Management practices, such as water-level manipulation and prescribed fire, can have a profound effect on the carbon dynamics of these ecosystems. Fluxes of carbon dioxide have been measured by eddy covariance methods over a subtropical peat marsh in Florida, USA since 2009. During this 5-year period, the site has experienced hydroperiods ranging from nine to twelve months. Hydroperiod was found to affect net ecosystem productivity, which was relatively low (70-130 grams carbon per square meter) in years with periodic drying events and much higher (300-600 grams carbon per square meter) during years with constant marsh inundation. The site experienced a prescribed fire in Spring of 2014, which consumed approximately 80% of the aboveground biomass (800 grams carbon per square meter). In addition to the carbon released by the fire, photosynthetic uptake during what would normally be the most productive part of the year was reduced relative to previous years due to low leaf area. These results illustrate how management practices can affect carbon sequestration, which is important for both atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations and maintenance of peat topography.

  12. Detection and Characterization of Low Temperature Peat Fires during the 2015 Fire Catastrophe in Indonesia Using a New High-Sensitivity Fire Monitoring Satellite Sensor (FireBird)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atwood, Elizabeth C.; Englhart, Sandra; Lorenz, Eckehard; Halle, Winfried; Wiedemann, Werner; Siegert, Florian

    2016-01-01

    Vast and disastrous fires occurred on Borneo during the 2015 dry season, pushing Indonesia into the top five carbon emitting countries. The region was affected by a very strong El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate phenomenon, on par with the last severe event in 1997/98. Fire dynamics in Central Kalimantan were investigated using an innovative sensor offering higher sensitivity to a wider range of fire intensities at a finer spatial resolution (160 m) than heretofore available. The sensor is onboard the TET-1 satellite, part of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) FireBird mission. TET-1 images (acquired every 2–3 days) from the middle infrared were used to detect fires continuously burning for almost three weeks in the protected peatlands of Sebangau National Park as well as surrounding areas with active logging and oil palm concessions. TET-1 detection capabilities were compared with MODIS active fire detection and Landsat burned area algorithms. Fire dynamics, including fire front propagation speed and area burned, were investigated. We show that TET-1 has improved detection capabilities over MODIS in monitoring low-intensity peatland fire fronts through thick smoke and haze. Analysis of fire dynamics revealed that the largest burned areas resulted from fire front lines started from multiple locations, and the highest propagation speeds were in excess of 500 m/day (all over peat > 2m deep). Fires were found to occur most often in concessions that contained drainage infrastructure but were not cleared prior to the fire season. Benefits of implementing this sensor system to improve current fire management techniques are discussed. Near real-time fire detection together with enhanced fire behavior monitoring capabilities would not only improve firefighting efforts, but also benefit analysis of fire impact on tropical peatlands, greenhouse gas emission estimations as well as mitigation measures to reduce severe fire events in the future. PMID:27486664

  13. Browns Ferry fire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harkleroad, J.R.

    1983-01-01

    A synopsis of the March 22, 1975 fire at Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant is discussed. Emphasis is placed on events prior to and during the fire. How the fire started, fire fighting activities, fire and smoke development, and restoration activities are discussed

  14. Overview of the 2013 FireFlux II grass fire field experiment

    Science.gov (United States)

    C.B. Clements; B. Davis; D. Seto; J. Contezac; A. Kochanski; J.-B. Fillipi; N. Lareau; B. Barboni; B. Butler; S. Krueger; R. Ottmar; R. Vihnanek; W.E. Heilman; J. Flynn; M.A. Jenkins; J. Mandel; C. Teske; D. Jimenez; J. O' Brien; B. Lefer

    2014-01-01

    In order to better understand the dynamics of fire-atmosphere interactions and the role of micrometeorology on fire behaviour the FireFlux campaign was conducted in 2006 on a coastal tall-grass prairie in southeast Texas, USA. The FireFlux campaign dataset has become the international standard for evaluating coupled fire-atmosphere model systems. While FireFlux is one...

  15. Exit choice, (pre-)movement time and (pre-)evacuation behaviour in hotel fire evacuation – Behavioural analysis and validation of the use of serious gaming in experimental research

    OpenAIRE

    Kobes, M.; Helsloot, I.; de Vries, B.; Post, J.

    2010-01-01

    Human behaviour in fires is mainly studied by incident evaluations and real-life experiments, such as unannounced evacuation drills. The possibilities of virtual reality for studying human behaviour in fires are so far hardly adopted by researchers. Nevertheless, the application of a behavioural assessment and research tool (BART) in virtual reality is expected to be a valuable supplement on the existing research methods. The innovative instrument will be validated by comparing the results of...

  16. System specification/system design document comment review: Plutonium Stabilization and Packaging System. Notes of conference

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1996-01-01

    A meeting was held between DOE personnel and the BNFL team to review the proposed resolutions to DOE comments on the initial issue of the system specification and system design document for the Plutonium Stabilization and Packaging System. The objectives of this project are to design, fabricate, install, and start up a glovebox system for the safe repackaging of plutonium oxide and metal, with a requirement of a 50-year storage period. The areas discussed at the meeting were: nitrogen in can; moisture instrumentation; glovebox atmosphere; can marking bar coding; weld quality; NFPA-101 references; inner can swabbing; ultimate storage environment; throughput; convenience can screw-top design; furnacetrays; authorization basis; compactor safety; schedule for DOE review actions; fire protection; criticality safety; applicable standards; approach to MC and A; homogeneous oxide; resistance welder power; and tray overfill. Revised resolutions were drafted and are presented

  17. Fire models for assessment of nuclear power plant fires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nicolette, V.F.; Nowlen, S.P.

    1989-01-01

    This paper reviews the state-of-the-art in available fire models for the assessment of nuclear power plants fires. The advantages and disadvantages of three basic types of fire models (zone, field, and control volume) and Sandia's experience with these models will be discussed. It is shown that the type of fire model selected to solve a particular problem should be based on the information that is required. Areas of concern which relate to all nuclear power plant fire models are identified. 17 refs., 6 figs

  18. Fire severity and ecosytem responses following crown fires in California shrublands.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keeley, Jon E; Brennan, Teresa; Pfaff, Anne H

    2008-09-01

    Chaparral shrublands burn in large high-intensity crown fires. Managers interested in how these wildfires affect ecosystem processes generally rely on surrogate measures of fire intensity known as fire severity metrics. In shrublands burned in the autumn of 2003, a study of 250 sites investigated factors determining fire severity and ecosystem responses. Using structural equation modeling we show that stand age, prefire shrub density, and the shortest interval of the prior fire history had significant direct effects on fire severity, explaining > 50% of the variation in severity. Fire severity per se is of interest to resource managers primarily because it is presumed to be an indicator of important ecosystem processes such as vegetative regeneration, community recovery, and erosion. Fire severity contributed relatively little to explaining patterns of regeneration after fire. Two generalizations can be drawn: fire severity effects are mostly shortlived, i.e., by the second year they are greatly diminished, and fire severity may have opposite effects on different functional types. Species richness exhibited a negative relationship to fire severity in the first year, but fire severity impacts were substantially less in the second postfire year and varied by functional type. Much of this relationship was due to alien plants that are sensitive to high fire severity; at all scales from 1 to 1000 m2, the percentage of alien species in the postfire flora declined with increased fire severity. Other aspects of disturbance history are also important determinants of alien cover and richness as both increased with the number of times the site had burned and decreased with time since last fire. A substantial number of studies have shown that remote-sensing indices are correlated with field measurements of fire severity. Across our sites, absolute differenced normalized burn ratio (dNBR) was strongly correlated with field measures of fire severity and with fire history at a

  19. An Overview of the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Facility and the Research Performed in the MSG on the International Space Station (ISS)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, Lee P.

    2013-01-01

    The Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) is a rack facility aboard the International Space Station (ISS) designed for investigation handling. The MSG was built by the European Space Agency (ESA) which also provides sustaining engineering support for the facility. The MSG has been operating on the ISS since July 2002 and is currently located in the US Laboratory Module. The unique design of the facility allows it to accommodate science and technology investigations in a "workbench" type environment. The facility has an enclosed working volume that is held at a negative pressure with respect to the crew living area. This allows the facility to provide two levels of containment for small parts, particulates, fluids, and gases. This containment approach protects the crew from possible hazardous operations that take place inside the MSG work volume. Research investigations operating inside the MSG are provided a large 255 liter enclosed work space, 1000 watts of dc power via a versatile supply interface (120, 28, +/- 12, and 5 Vdc), 1000 watts of cooling capability, video and data recording and real time downlink, ground commanding capabilities, access to ISS Vacuum Exhaust and Vacuum Resource Systems, and gaseous nitrogen supply. These capabilities make the MSG one of the most utilized facilities on ISS. The MSG has been used for over 14500 hours of scientific payload operations. MSG investigations involve research in cryogenic fluid management, fluid physics, spacecraft fire safety, materials science, combustion, plant growth, and life support technology. The MSG facility is operated by the Payloads Operations Integration Center at Marshall Space flight Center. Payloads may also operate remotely from different telescience centers located in the United States and Europe. The investigative Payload Integration Manager (iPIM) is the focal to assist organizations that have payloads operating in the MSG facility. NASA provides an MSG engineering unit for payload developers

  20. Fire Extinguisher Training for Fire Watch and Designated Workers, Course 9893

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harris, Jimmy D. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2016-04-19

    At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), all workers must be aware of LANL fire protection policies and be trained on what to do in the event of a fire. This course, Fire Extinguisher Training for Fire Watch and Designated Workers (#9893), provides awareness-level and hands-on training for fire watch personnel and designated workers. Fire watch personnel and designated workers are appointed by line management and must receive both awareness-level training and hands-on training in the use of portable fire extinguishers to extinguish an incipient-stage fire. This training meets the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 29 CFR 1910.157, Portable Fire Extinguishers, and Procedure (P) 101-26, Welding, Cutting, and Other Spark-/Flame-Producing Operations.

  1. Fire Extinguisher Designated Worker and Fire Watch: Self-Study Course 15672

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Harris, Jimmy D. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2016-07-08

    At Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), all workers must be aware of LANL fire protection policies and be trained on what to do in the event of a fire. This course, Fire Extinguisher Training for Fire Watch and Designated Workers (#9893), provides awareness-level and hands-on training for fire watch personnel and designated workers. Fire watch personnel and designated workers are appointed by line management and must receive both awareness-level training and hands-on training in the use of portable fire extinguishers to extinguish an incipient-stage fire. This training meets the requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 29 CFR 1910.157, Portable Fire Extinguishers, and Procedure (P) 101-26, Welding, Cutting, and Other Spark-/Flame-Producing Operations.

  2. Risk Assessment of the Main Control Room Fire Using Fire Simulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Dae Il; Kim, Kilyoo; Jang, Seung Cheol

    2013-01-01

    KAERI is performing a fire PSA for a reference plant, Ulchin Unit 3, as part of developing the Korean site risk profile (KSRP). Fire simulations of the MCR fire were conducted using the CFAST (Consolidated Fire Growth and Smoke Transport) model and FDS (fire dynamic simulator) to improve the uncertainty in the MCR fire risk analysis. Using the fire simulation results, the MCR abandonment risk was evaluated. Level 1 PSA (probabilistic safety assessment) results of Ulchin Unit 3 using the EPRI PRA (probabilistic risk assessment) implementation guide showed that the MCR (main control room) fire was the main contributor to the core damage frequency. Recently, U. S. NRC and EPRI developed NUREG/CR-6850 to provide state-of-the-art methods, tools, and data for the conduct of a fire PSA for a commercial NPP

  3. Fire characteristics associated with firefighter injury on large federal wildland fires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Britton, Carla; Lynch, Charles F; Torner, James; Peek-Asa, Corinne

    2013-02-01

    Wildland fires present many injury hazards to firefighters. We estimate injury rates and identify fire-related factors associated with injury. Data from the National Interagency Fire Center from 2003 to 2007 provided the number of injuries in which the firefighter could not return to his or her job assignment, person-days worked, and fire characteristics (year, region, season, cause, fuel type, resistance to control, and structures destroyed). We assessed fire-level risk factors of having at least one reported injury using logistic regression. Negative binomial regression was used to examine incidence rate ratios associated with fire-level risk factors. Of 867 fires, 9.5% required the most complex management and 24.7% required the next-highest level of management. Fires most often occurred in the western United States (82.8%), during the summer (69.6%), caused by lightening (54.9%). Timber was the most frequent fuel source (40.2%). Peak incident management level, person-days of exposure, and the fire's resistance to control were significantly related to the odds of a fire having at least one reported injury. However, the most complex fires had a lower injury incidence rate than less complex fires. Although fire complexity and the number of firefighters were associated with the risk for at least one reported injury, the more experienced and specialized firefighting teams had lower injury incidence. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Fire Research Enclosure

    Data.gov (United States)

    Federal Laboratory Consortium — FUNCTION: Simulates submarine fires, enclosed aircraft fires, and fires in enclosures at shore facilities .DESCRIPTION: FIRE I is a pressurizable, 324 cu m(11,400 cu...

  5. Fire protection for launch facilities using machine vision fire detection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwartz, Douglas B.

    1993-02-01

    Fire protection of critical space assets, including launch and fueling facilities and manned flight hardware, demands automatic sensors for continuous monitoring, and in certain high-threat areas, fast-reacting automatic suppression systems. Perhaps the most essential characteristic for these fire detection and suppression systems is high reliability; in other words, fire detectors should alarm only on actual fires and not be falsely activated by extraneous sources. Existing types of fire detectors have been greatly improved in the past decade; however, fundamental limitations of their method of operation leaves open a significant possibility of false alarms and restricts their usefulness. At the Civil Engineering Laboratory at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, a new type of fire detector is under development which 'sees' a fire visually, like a human being, and makes a reliable decision based on known visual characteristics of flames. Hardware prototypes of the Machine Vision (MV) Fire Detection System have undergone live fire tests and demonstrated extremely high accuracy in discriminating actual fires from false alarm sources. In fact, this technology promises to virtually eliminate false activations. This detector could be used to monitor fueling facilities, launch towers, clean rooms, and other high-value and high-risk areas. Applications can extend to space station and in-flight shuttle operations as well; fiber optics and remote camera heads enable the system to see around obstructed areas and crew compartments. The capability of the technology to distinguish fires means that fire detection can be provided even during maintenance operations, such as welding.

  6. 34 CFR 668.49 - Institutional fire safety policies and fire statistics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 34 Education 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Institutional fire safety policies and fire statistics... fire statistics. (a) Additional definitions that apply to this section. Cause of fire: The factor or...; however, it does not include indirect loss, such as business interruption. (b) Annual fire safety report...

  7. All fired up

    CERN Multimedia

    CERN Bulletin

    2013-01-01

    Members of the Directorate and their support staff took part in a fire-fighting course organised by the CERN Fire Brigade just before the end-of-year break.  The Bulletin takes a look at the fire-fighting training on offer at CERN.   At CERN the risk of fire can never be under-estimated. In order to train personnel in the use of fire extinguishers, CERN's fire training centre in Prévessin acquired a fire-simulation platform in 2012. On the morning of 17 December 2012, ten members of the CERN directorate and their support staff tried out the platform, following in the footsteps of 400 other members of the CERN community who had already attended the course. The participants were welcomed to the training centre by Gilles Colin, a fire-fighter and instructor, who gave them a 30-minute introduction to general safety and the different types of fire and fire extinguishers, followed by an hour of practical instruction in the simulation facility. There they were able to pract...

  8. Material handling systems for use in glovebox lines: A survey of Department of Energy facility experience

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Teese, G.D.; Randall, W.J.

    1992-01-01

    The Nuclear Weapons Complex Reconfiguration Study has recommended that a new manufacturing facility be constructed to replace the Rocky Flats Plant. In the new facility, use of an automated material handling system for movement of components would reduce both the cost and radiation exposure associated with production and maintenance operations. Contamination control would be improved between process steps through the use of airlocks and portals. Part damage associated with improper transport would be reduced, and accountability would be increased. In-process workpieces could be stored in a secure vault, awaiting a request for parts at a production station. However, all of these desirable features rely on the proper implementation of an automated material handling system. The Department of Energy Weapons Production Complex has experience with a variety of methods for transporting discrete parts in glovebox lines. The authors visited several sites to evaluate the existing technologies for their suitability for the application of plutonium manufacturing. Technologies reviewed were Linear motors, belt conveyors, roller conveyors, accumulating roller conveyors, pneumatic transport, and cart systems. The sites visited were The Idaho National Engineering laboratory, the Hanford Site, and the Rocky Flats Plant. Linear motors appear to be the most promising technology observed for the movement of discrete parts, and further investigation is recommended

  9. Recovering valuable liquid hydrocarbons

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pier, M

    1931-06-11

    A process for recovering valuable liquid hydrocarbons from coking coal, mineral coal, or oil shale through treatment with hydrogen under pressure at elevated temperature is described. Catalysts and grinding oil may be used in the process if necessary. The process provides for deashing the coal prior to hydrogenation and for preventing the coking and swelling of the deashed material. During the treatment with hydrogen, the coal is either mixed with coal low in bituminous material, such as lean coal or active coal, as a diluent or the bituminous constituents which cause the coking and swelling are removed by extraction with solvents. (BLM)

  10. Tunnel fire dynamics

    CERN Document Server

    Ingason, Haukur; Lönnermark, Anders

    2015-01-01

    This book covers a wide range of issues in fire safety engineering in tunnels, describes the phenomena related to tunnel fire dynamics, presents state-of-the-art research, and gives detailed solutions to these major issues. Examples for calculations are provided. The aim is to significantly improve the understanding of fire safety engineering in tunnels. Chapters on fuel and ventilation control, combustion products, gas temperatures, heat fluxes, smoke stratification, visibility, tenability, design fire curves, heat release, fire suppression and detection, CFD modeling, and scaling techniques all equip readers to create their own fire safety plans for tunnels. This book should be purchased by any engineer or public official with responsibility for tunnels. It would also be of interest to many fire protection engineers as an application of evolving technical principles of fire safety.

  11. Implementation of dynamic cross-talk correction (DCTC) for MOX holdup assay measurements among multiple gloveboxes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakamichi, Hideo; Nakamura, Hironobu; Mukai, Yasunobu; Kurita, Tsutomu; Beddingfield, David H.

    2012-01-01

    Plutonium holdup in gloveboxes (GBs) are measured by (passive neutron based NDA (HBAS) for the material control and accountancy (MC and A) at Plutonium Conversion Development Facility (PCDF). In the case that the GBs are installed close to one another, the cross-talk which means neutron double counting among GBs should be corrected properly. Though we used to use predetermined constants as the cross-talk correction, a new correction methodology for neutron cross-talk among the GBs with inventory changes is required for the improvement of MC and A. In order to address the issue of variable cross-talk contributions to holdup assay values, we applied a dynamic cross-talk correction (DCTC) method, based on the distributed source-term analysis approach, to obtain the actual doubles derived from the cross-talk between multiple GBs. As a result of introduction of DCTC for HBAS measurement, we could reduce source biases from the assay result by estimating the reliable doubles-counting derived from the cross-talk. Therefore, we could improve HBAS measurement uncertainty to a half of conventional system, and we are going to confirm the result. Since the DCTC methodology can be used to determine the cross-correlation among multiple inventories in small areas, it is expected that this methodology can be extended to the knowledge of safeguards by design. (author)

  12. Characterization of potential fire regimes: applying landscape ecology to fire management in Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jardel, E.; Alvarado, E.; Perez-Salicrup, D.; Morfín-Rios, J.

    2013-05-01

    Knowledge and understanding of fire regimes is fundamental to design sound fire management practices. The high ecosystem diversity of Mexico offers a great challenge to characterize the fire regime variation at the landscape level. A conceptual model was developed considering the main factors controlling fire regimes: climate and vegetation cover. We classified landscape units combining bioclimatic zones from the Holdridge life-zone system and actual vegetation cover. Since bioclimatic conditions control primary productivity and biomass accumulation (potential fuel), each landscape unit was considered as a fuel bed with a particular fire intensity and behavior potential. Climate is also a determinant factor of post-fire recovery rates of fuel beds, and climate seasonality (length of the dry and wet seasons) influences fire probability (available fuel and ignition efficiency). These two factors influence potential fire frequency. Potential fire severity can be inferred from fire frequency, fire intensity and behavior, and vegetation composition and structure. Based in the conceptual model, an exhaustive literature review and expert opinion, we developed rules to assign a potential fire regime (PFR) defined by frequency, intensity and severity (i.e. fire regime) to each bioclimatic-vegetation landscape unit. Three groups and eight types of potential fire regimes were identified. In Group A are fire-prone ecosystems with frequent low severity surface fires in grasslands (PFR type I) or forests with long dry season (II) and infrequent high-severity fires in chaparral (III), wet temperate forests (IV, fire restricted by humidity), and dry temperate forests (V, fire restricted by fuel recovery rate). Group B includes fire-reluctant ecosystems with very infrequent or occasional mixed severity surface fires limited by moisture in tropical rain forests (VI) or fuel availability in seasonally dry tropical forests (VII). Group C and PFR VIII include fire-free environments

  13. The role of fuels for understanding fire behavior and fire effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    E. Louise Loudermilk; J. Kevin Hiers; Joseph J. O' Brien

    2018-01-01

    Fire ecology, which has emerged as a critical discipline, links the complex interactions that occur between fire regimes and ecosystems. The ecology of fuels, a first principle in fire ecology, identifies feedbacks between vegetation and fire behavior-a cyclic process that starts with fuels influencing fire behavior, which in turn governs patterns of postfire...

  14. Fire Problems in High-Rise Buildings. California Fire Service Training Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    California State Dept. of Education, Sacramento. Bureau of Industrial Education.

    Resulting from a conference concerned with high-rise fire problems, this manual has been prepared as a fire department training manual and as a reference for students enrolled in fire service training courses. Information is provided for topics dealing with: (1) Typical Fire Problems in High-Rise Buildings, (2) Heat, (3) Smoke and Fire Gases, (4)…

  15. Ravens reconcile after aggressive conflicts with valuable partners.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fraser, Orlaith N; Bugnyar, Thomas

    2011-03-25

    Reconciliation, a post-conflict affiliative interaction between former opponents, is an important mechanism for reducing the costs of aggressive conflict in primates and some other mammals as it may repair the opponents' relationship and reduce post-conflict distress. Opponents who share a valuable relationship are expected to be more likely to reconcile as for such partners the benefits of relationship repair should outweigh the risk of renewed aggression. In birds, however, post-conflict behavior has thus far been marked by an apparent absence of reconciliation, suggested to result either from differing avian and mammalian strategies or because birds may not share valuable relationships with partners with whom they engage in aggressive conflict. Here, we demonstrate the occurrence of reconciliation in a group of captive subadult ravens (Corvus corax) and show that it is more likely to occur after conflicts between partners who share a valuable relationship. Furthermore, former opponents were less likely to engage in renewed aggression following reconciliation, suggesting that reconciliation repairs damage caused to their relationship by the preceding conflict. Our findings suggest not only that primate-like valuable relationships exist outside the pair bond in birds, but that such partners may employ the same mechanisms in birds as in primates to ensure that the benefits afforded by their relationships are maintained even when conflicts of interest escalate into aggression. These results provide further support for a convergent evolution of social strategies in avian and mammalian species.

  16. Forest fires in Pennsylvania.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donald A. Haines; William A. Main; Eugene F. McNamara

    1978-01-01

    Describes factors that contribute to forest fires in Pennsylvania. Includes an analysis of basic statistics; distribution of fires during normal, drought, and wet years; fire cause, fire activity by day-of-week; multiple-fire day; and fire climatology.

  17. Fire safety assessment for the fire areas of the nuclear power plant using fire model CFAST

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Yoon Hwan; Yang, Joon Eon; Kim, Jong Hoon

    2005-03-01

    Now the deterministic analysis results for the cable integrity is not given in case of performing the fire PSA. So it is necessary to develop the assessment methodology for the fire growth and propagation. This document is intended to analyze the peak temperature of the upper gas layer using the fire modeling code, CFAST, to evaluate the integrity of the cable located on the dominant pump rooms, and to assess the CCDP(Conditional Core Damage Probability) using the results of the cable integrity. According to the analysis results, the cable integrity of the pump rooms is maintained and CCDP is reduced about two times than the old one. Accordingly, the fire safety assessment for the dominant fire areas using the fire modeling code will capable to reduce the uncertainty and to develop a more realistic model

  18. Thermal surface characteristics of coal fires 1 results of in-situ measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Jianzhong; Kuenzer, Claudia

    2007-12-01

    Natural underground coal fires are fires in coal seams occurring subsurface. The fires are ignited through a process named spontaneous combustion, which occurs based on a natural reaction but is usually triggered through human interaction. Coal mining activities expose coal to the air. This leads to the exothermal oxidation of the carbon in the coal with the air's oxygen to CO 2 and - under certain circumstances - to spontaneous combustion. Coal fires occur in many countries world wide - however, currently the Chinese coal mining industry faces the biggest problems with coal fires. Coal fires destroy the valuable resource coal and furthermore lead to many environmental degradation phenomena such as the deterioration of surrounding vegetation, land subsidence and the emission of toxic gasses (CO, N 2O). They additionally contribute to the emission of green house relevant gasses such as CO 2 and CH 4 to the atmosphere. In this paper we present thermal characteristics of coal fires as measured in-situ during a field campaign to the Wuda coal fire area in south-central Inner Mongolia, China. Thermal characteristics include temperature anomaly measurements at the surface, spatial surface temperature profiles of fire areas and unaffected background areas, diurnal temperature profiles, and temperature measurements inside of coal fire induced cracks in the overlying bedrock. For all the measurements the effects of uneven solar heating through influences of slope and aspect are considered. Our findings show that coal fires result in strong or subtle thermal surface anomalies. Especially the latter can easily be influenced by heating of the surrounding background material through solar influences. Temperature variation of background rocks with different albedo, slope, aspect or vegetation cover can substantially influence the detectability of thermal anomalies. In the worst case coal fire related thermal anomalies can be completely masked by solar patterns during the daytime

  19. Impacts of fire, fire-fighting chemicals and post-fire stabilization techniques on the soil-plant system

    OpenAIRE

    Fernández Fernández, María

    2017-01-01

    Forest fires, as well as fire-fighting chemicals, greatly affect the soil-plant system causing vegetation loss, alterations of soil properties and nutrient losses through volatilization, leaching and erosion. Soil recovery after fires depends on the regeneration of the vegetation cover, which protects the soil and prevents erosion. Fire-fighting chemicals contain compounds potentially toxic for plants and soil organisms, and thus their use might hamper the regeneration of burnt ecosystems. In...

  20. Fire Propagation Tracing Model in the Explicit Treatment of Events of Fire PSA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lim, Ho Gon; Han, Sang Hoon; Yang, Jun Eon

    2010-01-01

    The fire propagation model in a fire PSA has not been considered analytically instead a simplified analyst's intuition was used to consider the fire propagation path. A fire propagation equation is developed to trace all the propagation paths in the fire area in which a zone is defined to identify various fire ignition sources. An initiation of fire is assumed to take place in a zone. Then, the propagation is modeled with a Boolean equation. Since the explicit fire PSA modeling requires an exclusive event set to sum up the..., exclusive event sets are derived from the fire propagation equation. As an example, we show the exclusive set for a 2x3 rectangular fire zone. Also, the applicability the developed fire equation is discussed when the number of zone increases including the limitation of the explicit fire PSA modeling method

  1. Changes in fire weather distributions: effects on predicted fire behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucy A. Salazar; Larry S. Bradshaw

    1984-01-01

    Data that represent average worst fire weather for a particular area are used to index daily fire danger; however, they do not account for different locations or diurnal weather changes that significantly affect fire behavior potential. To study the effects that selected changes in weather databases have on computed fire behavior parameters, weather data for the...

  2. Forest fires in Himalayan region during 2016 - Aerosol load and smoke plume heights detection by multi sensor observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, S.; Dumka, U. C.

    2017-12-01

    The forest fires are common events over the Central Himalayan region during the pre-monsoon season (March - June) of every year. Forest fire plays a crucial role in governing the vegetation structure, ecosystem, climate change as well as in atmospheric chemistry. In regional and global scales, the combustion of forest and grassland vegetation releases large volumes of smoke, aerosols, and other chemically active species that significantly influence Earth's radiative budget and atmospheric chemistry, impacting air quality and risks to human health. During the year 2016, massive forest fires have been recorded over the Central Himalayan region of Uttarakhand which continues for several weeks. To study this event we used the multi-satellite observations of aerosols and pollutants during pre-fire, fire and post-fire period over the central Himalayan region. The data used in this study are active fire count and aerosol optical depth (AOD) from MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), aerosol index and gases pollutants from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), along with vertical profiles of aerosols and smoke plume height information from Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observations (CALIPSO). The result shows that the mean fire counts were maximum in April. The daily average AOD value shows an increasing trend during the fire events. The mean value of AOD before the massive fire (25 April), during the fire (30 April) and post fire (5 May) periods are 0.3, 1.2 and 0.6 respectively. We find an increasing trend of total columnar NO2 over the Uttarakhand region during the massive fire event. Space-born Lidar (CALIPSO) retrievals show the extent of smoke plume heights beyond the planetary boundary layer up to 6 km during the peak burning day (April 30). The HYSPLIT air mass forward trajectory shows the long-range transportation of smoke plumes. The results of the present study provide valuable information for addressing smoke plume and

  3. Assessing fire impacts on the carbon stability of fire-tolerant forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bennett, Lauren T; Bruce, Matthew J; Machunter, Josephine; Kohout, Michele; Krishnaraj, Saravanan Jangammanaidu; Aponte, Cristina

    2017-12-01

    The carbon stability of fire-tolerant forests is often assumed but less frequently assessed, limiting the potential to anticipate threats to forest carbon posed by predicted increases in forest fire activity. Assessing the carbon stability of fire-tolerant forests requires multi-indicator approaches that recognize the myriad ways that fires influence the carbon balance, including combustion, deposition of pyrogenic material, and tree death, post-fire decomposition, recruitment, and growth. Five years after a large-scale wildfire in southeastern Australia, we assessed the impacts of low- and high-severity wildfire, with and without prescribed fire (≤10 yr before), on carbon stocks in multiple pools, and on carbon stability indicators (carbon stock percentages in live trees and in small trees, and carbon stocks in char and fuels) in fire-tolerant eucalypt forests. Relative to unburned forest, high-severity wildfire decreased short-term (five-year) carbon stability by significantly decreasing live tree carbon stocks and percentage stocks in live standing trees (reflecting elevated tree mortality), by increasing the percentage of live tree carbon in small trees (those vulnerable to the next fire), and by potentially increasing the probability of another fire through increased elevated fine fuel loads. In contrast, low-severity wildfire enhanced carbon stability by having negligible effects on aboveground stocks and indicators, and by significantly increasing carbon stocks in char and, in particular, soils, indicating pyrogenic carbon accumulation. Overall, recent preceding prescribed fire did not markedly influence wildfire effects on short-term carbon stability at stand scales. Despite wide confidence intervals around mean stock differences, indicating uncertainty about the magnitude of fire effects in these natural forests, our assessment highlights the need for active management of carbon assets in fire-tolerant eucalypt forests under contemporary fire regimes

  4. Fast and safe gas detection from underground coal fire by drone fly over

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dunnington, Lucila; Nakagawa, Masami

    2017-01-01

    Underground coal fires start naturally or as a result of human activities. Besides burning away the important non-renewable energy resource and causing financial losses, burning coal seams emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide and methane, and is a leading cause of smog, acid rain, global warming, and air toxins. In the U.S. alone, the combined cost of coal-fire remediation projects that have been completed, budgeted, or projected by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Remediation and Enforcement (OSM), exceeds $1 billion. It is estimated that these fires generate as much as 3% of the world's annual carbon dioxide emissions and consume as much as 5% of its minable coal. Considering the magnitude of environmental impact and economic loss caused by burning underground coal seams, we have developed a new, safe, reliable surface measurement of coal fire gases to assess the nature of underground coal fires. We use a drone mounted with gas sensors. Drone collected gas concentration data provides a safe alternative for evaluating the rank of a burning coal seam. In this study, a new method of determining coal rank by gas ratios is developed. Coal rank is valuable for defining parameters of a coal seam such as burn temperature, burn rate, and volume of burning seam. - Graphical abstract: Concluding Figure for Gas Ratios: Plotted points and ranges of adjusted literature data. Stars represent bituminous and subbituminous coal types; Ovals represent lignite. - Highlights: • Recognize underground coal fire as a potential source of energy. • Developed a creative, safe, reliable and fast gas detection method. • Developed a concept of gas ratio measurement method that can provide more accurate description of underground burning coal resource.

  5. Humans, Fires, and Forests - Social science applied to fire management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanna J. Cortner; Donald R. Field; Pam Jakes; James D. Buthman

    2003-01-01

    The 2000 and 2002 fire seasons resulted in increased political scrutiny of the nation's wildland fire threats, and given the fact that millions of acres of lands are still at high risk for future catastrophic fire events, the issues highlighted by the recent fire seasons are not likely to go away any time soon. Recognizing the magnitude of the problem, the...

  6. EPS insulated façade fires from a fire and rescue perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kumm M.

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available This paper highlights the challenges the fire and rescue services can meet at façade fires involving EPS insulation during construction and use of a building. The EPS characteristics are discussed in respect to the fire and rescue operation and results from orientating fire tests performed at a fire and rescue services training and test field are presented. Types of evacuation solutions, involving the fire and rescue services, where façade fires can delay or completely rule out the possibilities for safe evacuation, are presented. The restrictions in the Swedish building codes regarding use of combustible insulation are analysed and reflections over the practical problems with following the instructions to keep an EPS insulated façade safe through the building's whole lifespan are made. A number of occurred fires involving EPS are discussed and analysed from a fire and rescue perspective. Finally, recommendations are given for the fire and rescue services and future research fields are proposed.

  7. Using unplanned fires to help suppressing future large fires in Mediterranean forests.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrián Regos

    Full Text Available Despite the huge resources invested in fire suppression, the impact of wildfires has considerably increased across the Mediterranean region since the second half of the 20th century. Modulating fire suppression efforts in mild weather conditions is an appealing but hotly-debated strategy to use unplanned fires and associated fuel reduction to create opportunities for suppression of large fires in future adverse weather conditions. Using a spatially-explicit fire-succession model developed for Catalonia (Spain, we assessed this opportunistic policy by using two fire suppression strategies that reproduce how firefighters in extreme weather conditions exploit previous fire scars as firefighting opportunities. We designed scenarios by combining different levels of fire suppression efficiency and climatic severity for a 50-year period (2000-2050. An opportunistic fire suppression policy induced large-scale changes in fire regimes and decreased the area burnt under extreme climate conditions, but only accounted for up to 18-22% of the area to be burnt in reference scenarios. The area suppressed in adverse years tended to increase in scenarios with increasing amounts of area burnt during years dominated by mild weather. Climate change had counterintuitive effects on opportunistic fire suppression strategies. Climate warming increased the incidence of large fires under uncontrolled conditions but also indirectly increased opportunities for enhanced fire suppression. Therefore, to shift fire suppression opportunities from adverse to mild years, we would require a disproportionately large amount of area burnt in mild years. We conclude that the strategic planning of fire suppression resources has the potential to become an important cost-effective fuel-reduction strategy at large spatial scale. We do however suggest that this strategy should probably be accompanied by other fuel-reduction treatments applied at broad scales if large-scale changes in fire

  8. Using unplanned fires to help suppressing future large fires in Mediterranean forests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Regos, Adrián; Aquilué, Núria; Retana, Javier; De Cáceres, Miquel; Brotons, Lluís

    2014-01-01

    Despite the huge resources invested in fire suppression, the impact of wildfires has considerably increased across the Mediterranean region since the second half of the 20th century. Modulating fire suppression efforts in mild weather conditions is an appealing but hotly-debated strategy to use unplanned fires and associated fuel reduction to create opportunities for suppression of large fires in future adverse weather conditions. Using a spatially-explicit fire-succession model developed for Catalonia (Spain), we assessed this opportunistic policy by using two fire suppression strategies that reproduce how firefighters in extreme weather conditions exploit previous fire scars as firefighting opportunities. We designed scenarios by combining different levels of fire suppression efficiency and climatic severity for a 50-year period (2000-2050). An opportunistic fire suppression policy induced large-scale changes in fire regimes and decreased the area burnt under extreme climate conditions, but only accounted for up to 18-22% of the area to be burnt in reference scenarios. The area suppressed in adverse years tended to increase in scenarios with increasing amounts of area burnt during years dominated by mild weather. Climate change had counterintuitive effects on opportunistic fire suppression strategies. Climate warming increased the incidence of large fires under uncontrolled conditions but also indirectly increased opportunities for enhanced fire suppression. Therefore, to shift fire suppression opportunities from adverse to mild years, we would require a disproportionately large amount of area burnt in mild years. We conclude that the strategic planning of fire suppression resources has the potential to become an important cost-effective fuel-reduction strategy at large spatial scale. We do however suggest that this strategy should probably be accompanied by other fuel-reduction treatments applied at broad scales if large-scale changes in fire regimes are to be

  9. OECD-FIRE PR02. OECD-FIRE database record structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kolar, L.

    2005-12-01

    In the coding guidelines, the scope, format, and details of any record required to input a real fire event at a nuclear reactor unit to the international OECD-FIRE database are described in detail. The database was set up in the OECD-FIRE-PR02 code

  10. Numerical modeling of the effects of fire-induced convection and fire-atmosphere interactions on wildfire spread and fire plume dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Ruiyu

    It is possible due to present day computing power to produce a fluid dynamical physically-based numerical solution to wildfire behavior, at least in the research mode. This type of wildfire modeling affords a flexibility and produces details that are not available in either current operational wildfire behavior models or field experiments. However before using these models to study wildfire, validation is necessary, and model results need to be systematically and objectively analyzed and compared to real fires. Plume theory and data from the Meteotron experiment, which was specially designed to provide results from measurements for the theoretical study of a convective plume produced by a high heat source at the ground, are used here to evaluate the fire plume properties simulated by two numerical wildfire models, the Fire Dynamics Simulator or FDS, and the Clark coupled atmosphere-fire model. The study indicates that the FDS produces good agreement with the plume theory and the Meteotron results. The study also suggests that the coupled atmosphere-fire model, a less explicit and ideally less computationally demanding model than the FDS; can produce good agreement, but that the agreement is sensitive to the method of putting the energy released from the fire into the atmosphere. The WFDS (Wildfire and wildland-urban interface FDS), an extension of the FDS to the vegetative fuel, and the Australian grass fire experiments are used to evaluate and improve the UULES-wildfire coupled model. Despite the simple fire parameterization in the UULES-wildfire coupled model, the fireline is fairly well predicted in terms of both shape and location in the simulation of Australian grass fire experiment F19. Finally, the UULES-wildfire coupled model is used to examine how the turbulent flow in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) affects the growth of the grass fires. The model fires showed significant randomness in fire growth: Fire spread is not deterministic in the ABL, and a

  11. Fire protection at hot laboratories: Prevention, surveillance and fire-fighting

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chappellier, A.M.

    1976-01-01

    After pointing out that fire in a hot laboratory can be an important factor contributing to a radioactivity accident, the author briefly recalls the items to be taken into account in a fire hazard analysis. He then describes various important aspects of prevention, detection and fire-fighting which - at the French Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique - are governed by already defined rules or by guidelines which are sufficiently advanced to give a clear idea of the final conclusions to be drawn therefrom. From the point of view protection, the concept of fire sector has been evolved, at hot laboratories, becomes the fire and contamination sector, so as to ensure under all circumstances the containment of any radioactive materials dispersed in the premises on fire. Regarding fire detection, a study should be made on the constraints specific to the facility and liable to affect detector operation. These include ventilation, radiations, neutral or corrosive atmosphere, etc. As regards fire-fighting, two particular aspects are dealt with, namely the question of using water in case of fire and action to be taken concerning ventilation. A practical example - the protection of a ventilation system - is described. In conclusion the paper refers to the need for a thorough analysis specific to each hot laboratory, and to the importance of preparing an operational plan so as to avoid any dangerous improvisations in case of an accident. (author)

  12. OntoFire: an ontology-based geo-portal for wildfires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalabokidis, K.; Athanasis, N.; Vaitis, M.

    2011-12-01

    With the proliferation of the geospatial technologies on the Internet, the role of geo-portals (i.e. gateways to Spatial Data Infrastructures) in the area of wildfires management emerges. However, keyword-based techniques often frustrate users when looking for data of interest in geo-portal environments, while little attention has been paid to shift from the conventional keyword-based to navigation-based mechanisms. The presented OntoFire system is an ontology-based geo-portal about wildfires. Through the proposed navigation mechanisms, the relationships between the data can be discovered, which would otherwise not be possible when using conventional querying techniques alone. End users can use the browsing interface to find resources of interest by using the navigation mechanisms provided. Data providers can use the publishing interface to submit new metadata, modify metadata or removing metadata in/from the catalogue. The proposed approach can improve the discovery of valuable information that is necessary to set priorities for disaster mitigation and prevention strategies. OntoFire aspires to be a focal point of integration and management of a very large amount of information, contributing in this way to the dissemination of knowledge and to the preparedness of the operational stakeholders.

  13. The contribution of natural fire management to wilderness fire science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carol Miller

    2014-01-01

    When the federal agencies established policies in the late 1960s and early 1970s to allow the use of natural fires in wilderness, they launched a natural fire management experiment in a handful of wilderness areas. As a result, wildland fire has played more of its natural role in wilderness than anywhere else. Much of what we understand about fire ecology comes from...

  14. Fire risk in California

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peterson, Seth Howard

    Fire is an integral part of ecosystems in the western United States. Decades of fire suppression have led to (unnaturally) large accumulations of fuel in some forest communities, such as the lower elevation forests of the Sierra Nevada. Urban sprawl into fire prone chaparral vegetation in southern California has put human lives at risk and the decreased fire return intervals have put the vegetation community at risk of type conversion. This research examines the factors affecting fire risk in two of the dominant landscapes in the state of California, chaparral and inland coniferous forests. Live fuel moisture (LFM) is important for fire ignition, spread rate, and intensity in chaparral. LFM maps were generated for Los Angeles County by developing and then inverting robust cross-validated regression equations from time series field data and vegetation indices (VIs) and phenological metrics from MODIS data. Fire fuels, including understory fuels which are not visible to remote sensing instruments, were mapped in Yosemite National Park using the random forests decision tree algorithm and climatic, topographic, remotely sensed, and fire history variables. Combining the disparate data sources served to improve classification accuracies. The models were inverted to produce maps of fuel models and fuel amounts, and these showed that fire fuel amounts are highest in the low elevation forests that have been most affected by fire suppression impacting the natural fire regime. Wildland fires in chaparral commonly burn in late summer or fall when LFM is near its annual low, however, the Jesusita Fire burned in early May of 2009, when LFM was still relatively high. The HFire fire spread model was used to simulate the growth of the Jesusita Fire using LFM maps derived from imagery acquired at the time of the fire and imagery acquired in late August to determine how much different the fire would have been if it had occurred later in the year. Simulated fires were 1.5 times larger

  15. Fire Behavior System for the Full Range of Fire Management Needs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richard C. Rothermel; Patricia L. Andrews

    1987-01-01

    An "integrated fire behavior/fire danger rating system" should be "seamless" to avoid requiring choices among alternate, independent systems. Descriptions of fuel moisture, fuels, and fire behavior should be standardized, permitting information to flow easily through the spectrum of fire management needs. The level of resolution depends on the...

  16. Fire Resistance Tests of Various Fire Protective Coatings

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mindaugas GRIGONIS

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Tests were carried out on more than 14 different samples of fire protective coatings in order to investigate a relation between the thickness of the intumescent fire protection coating and the time of exposure to heat. A number of coatings of different chemical composition enabled to determine the fire resistance behaviour patterns. During test the one-side and volumetric methods were employed in observance of the standard temperature-time curves. For one-side method, the coating was applied on one side and all edges of the specimen, whereas for volumetric test the specimens were completely covered with fire protective coating. It is shown that a layer of coating protects the specimen's surface from heat exposure for a certain period of time until full oxidation of the coating occurs. The efficiency of fire protective coatings also depends on thickness of the charred layer of the side exposed to heat.http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.17.1.257

  17. FIRE CHARACTERISTICS FOR ADVANCED MODELLING OF FIRES

    OpenAIRE

    Otto Dvořák

    2016-01-01

    This paper summarizes the material and fire properties of solid flammable/combustible materials /substances /products, which are used as inputs for the computer numerical fire models. At the same time it gives the test standards for their determination.

  18. Forest Fires in the Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ: Risk knowledge and public intervention

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jairo Estacio

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Every summer, the Metropolitan District of Quito (MDQ is subject to the recurrence of forest fires with different consequences in terms of loss of protected areas of great biodiversity, affectation of public and private spaces of different use and impact on the population well-being. The management of municipal authorities of this type of risks is still limited, since there is no decisional tool that can improve the preventive planning and the response to the annual presence of these events. For this reason, the generation of a study on potential fores fires represents the first step towards the comprehension and the reduction of risks. The present article presents the result of this study, the mechanisms and the efforts of the municipal technicians that made possible the achievement of these tools in the frame of the Risk Reduction Program of the Metropolitan District of Quito. The obtained results allowed the implementation of prevention actions in areas with very valuable ecosystems services but fragile in the same time, as well as the improvement of the fire emergency plans in order to optimize resources and reinforce local capacities. 

  19. Fire retardant formulations

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    2017-01-01

    The present invention relates to compositions where a substrate is liable to catch fire such as bituminous products, paints, carpets or the like. The invention relates to a composition comprising 40-95 weight % of a substrate to be rendered fire resistant such as bituminous material or paint......, carpets which substrate is mixed with 5-60 weight % of a fire retardant component. The invention relates to a fire retardant component comprising or being constituted of attapulgite, and a salt being a source of a blowing or expanding agent, where the attapulgite and the salt are electrostatically...... connected by mixing and subjecting the mixture of the two components to agitation. Also, the invention relates to compositions comprising 40-95 weight % of a substrate to be rendered fire resistant mixed with 5-60 weight % of a fire retardant according to claim 1 or 2, which fire retardant component...

  20. Cleaning up coal-fired plants : multi-pollutant technology

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Granson, E.

    2009-06-15

    Coal is the source of 41 per cent of the world's electricity. Emission reduction technologies are needed to address the rapid growth of coal-fired plants in developing countries. This article discussed a multi-pollutant technology currently being developed by Natural Resources Canada's CANMET Energy Technology Centre. The ECO technology was designed to focus on several types of emissions, including sulfur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), mercury and particulates, as well as acid gases and other metals from the exhaust gas of coal-fired plants. The ECO process converts and absorbs incoming pollutants in a wet electrostatic precipitator while at the same time producing a valuable fertilizer. The ECO system is installed as part of the plant's existing particulate control device and treats flue gas in 3 process steps: (1) a dielectric barrier discharge reactor oxidizes gaseous pollutants to higher oxides; (2) an ammonia scrubber then removes sulfur dioxide (SO{sub 2}) not converted by the reactor while also removing the NOx; and (3) the wet electrostatic precipitator captures acid aerosols produced by the discharge reactor. A diagram of the ECO process flow was included. It was concluded that the systems will be installed in clean coal plants by 2015. 2 figs.

  1. Vegetation responses to season of fire in an aseasonal, fire-prone fynbos shrubland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tineke Kraaij

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Season of fire has marked effects on floristic composition in fire-prone Mediterranean-climate shrublands. In these winter-rainfall systems, summer-autumn fires lead to optimal recruitment of overstorey proteoid shrubs (non-sprouting, slow-maturing, serotinous Proteaceae which are important to the conservation of floral diversity. We explored whether fire season has similar effects on early establishment of five proteoid species in the eastern coastal part of the Cape Floral Kingdom (South Africa where rainfall occurs year-round and where weather conducive to fire and the actual incidence of fire are largely aseasonal. We surveyed recruitment success (ratio of post-fire recruits to pre-fire parents of proteoids after fires in different seasons. We also planted proteoid seeds into exclosures, designed to prevent predation by small mammals and birds, in cleared (intended to simulate fire fynbos shrublands at different sites in each of four seasons and monitored their germination and survival to one year post-planting (hereafter termed ‘recruitment’. Factors (in decreasing order of importance affecting recruitment success in the post-fire surveys were species, pre-fire parent density, post-fire age of the vegetation at the time of assessment, and fire season, whereas rainfall (for six months post-fire and fire return interval (>7 years had little effect. In the seed-planting experiment, germination occurred during the cooler months and mostly within two months of planting, except for summer-plantings, which took 2–3 months longer to germinate. Although recruitment success differed significantly among planting seasons, sites and species, significant interactions occurred among the experimental factors. In both the post-fire surveys and seed planting experiment, recruitment success in relation to fire- or planting season varied greatly within and among species and sites. Results of these two datasets were furthermore inconsistent, suggesting

  2. Vegetation responses to season of fire in an aseasonal, fire-prone fynbos shrubland.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kraaij, Tineke; Cowling, Richard M; van Wilgen, Brian W; Rikhotso, Diba R; Difford, Mark

    2017-01-01

    Season of fire has marked effects on floristic composition in fire-prone Mediterranean-climate shrublands. In these winter-rainfall systems, summer-autumn fires lead to optimal recruitment of overstorey proteoid shrubs (non-sprouting, slow-maturing, serotinous Proteaceae) which are important to the conservation of floral diversity. We explored whether fire season has similar effects on early establishment of five proteoid species in the eastern coastal part of the Cape Floral Kingdom (South Africa) where rainfall occurs year-round and where weather conducive to fire and the actual incidence of fire are largely aseasonal. We surveyed recruitment success (ratio of post-fire recruits to pre-fire parents) of proteoids after fires in different seasons. We also planted proteoid seeds into exclosures, designed to prevent predation by small mammals and birds, in cleared (intended to simulate fire) fynbos shrublands at different sites in each of four seasons and monitored their germination and survival to one year post-planting (hereafter termed 'recruitment'). Factors (in decreasing order of importance) affecting recruitment success in the post-fire surveys were species, pre-fire parent density, post-fire age of the vegetation at the time of assessment, and fire season, whereas rainfall (for six months post-fire) and fire return interval (>7 years) had little effect. In the seed-planting experiment, germination occurred during the cooler months and mostly within two months of planting, except for summer-plantings, which took 2-3 months longer to germinate. Although recruitment success differed significantly among planting seasons, sites and species, significant interactions occurred among the experimental factors. In both the post-fire surveys and seed planting experiment, recruitment success in relation to fire- or planting season varied greatly within and among species and sites. Results of these two datasets were furthermore inconsistent, suggesting that proteoid

  3. A hierarchical fire frequency model to simulate temporal patterns of fire regimes in LANDIS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jian Yang; Hong S. He; Eric J. Gustafson

    2004-01-01

    Fire disturbance has important ecological effects in many forest landscapes. Existing statistically based approaches can be used to examine the effects of a fire regime on forest landscape dynamics. Most examples of statistically based fire models divide a fire occurrence into two stages--fire ignition and fire initiation. However, the exponential and Weibull fire-...

  4. FIRE CHARACTERISTICS FOR ADVANCED MODELLING OF FIRES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Otto Dvořák

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper summarizes the material and fire properties of solid flammable/combustible materials /substances /products, which are used as inputs for the computer numerical fire models. At the same time it gives the test standards for their determination.

  5. Stochastic representation of fire behavior in a wildland fire protection planning model for California.

    Science.gov (United States)

    J. Keith Gilless; Jeremy S. Fried

    1998-01-01

    A fire behavior module was developed for the California Fire Economics Simulator version 2 (CFES2), a stochastic simulation model of initial attack on wildland fire used by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. Fire rate of spread (ROS) and fire dispatch level (FDL) for simulated fires "occurring" on the same day are determined by making...

  6. Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on fauna

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jane Kapler Smith

    2000-01-01

    VOLUME 1: Fires affect animals mainly through effects on their habitat. Fires often cause short-term increases in wildlife foods that contribute to increases in populations of some animals. These increases are moderated by the animals' ability to thrive in the altered, often simplified, structure of the postfire environment. The extent of fire effects on animal...

  7. Modelling long-term fire occurrence factors in Spain by accounting for local variations with geographically weighted regression

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martínez-Fernández, J.; Chuvieco, E.; Koutsias, N.

    2013-02-01

    parameter estimates for all the variables and an important reduction of the autocorrelation in the residuals of the GW linear model. Despite the fitting improvement of local models, GW regression, more than an alternative to "global" or traditional regression modelling, seems to be a valuable complement to explore the non-stationary relationships between the response variable and the explanatory variables. The synergy of global and local modelling provides insights into fire management and policy and helps further our understanding of the fire problem over large areas while at the same time recognizing its local character.

  8. Wildland fire in ecosystems: effects of fire on soils and water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel G. Neary; Kevin C. Ryan; Leonard F. DeBano

    2005-01-01

    This state-of-knowledge review about the effects of fire on soils and water can assist land and fire managers with information on the physical, chemical, and biological effects of fire needed to successfully conduct ecosystem management, and effectively inform others about the role and impacts of wildland fire. Chapter topics include the soil resource, soil physical...

  9. Fire risk analysis, fire simulation, fire spreading and impact of smoke and heat on instrumentation electronics - State-of-the-Art Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roewekamp, M.; Bertrand, R.; Bonneval, F.; Hamblen, D.; Siu, N.; Aulamo, H.; Martila, J.; Sandberg, J.; Virolainen, R.

    2000-01-01

    Numerous fire PSAs (probabilistic safety assessments) have shown that fire can be a major contributor to nuclear power plant risk. However, there are considerable uncertainties in the results of these assessments, due to significant gaps in current abilities to perform realistic assessments. These gaps involve multiple aspects of fire PSA, including the estimation of the probability of important fire scenarios, the modeling of fire growth and suppression, the prediction of fire-induced damage to equipment (including the effects of smoke), and the treatment of plant and operator responses to the fire. In response to recommendations of /VIR 93/, CSNI/PWG5 established a Task Group to review the present status and maturity of current methods used in fire risk assessments for operating nuclear power plants. The Task Group issued a questionnaire in May 1997 to all nuclear power generating OECD countries. The prime focus of the questionnaire (see Appendix A) was on a number of important issues in fire PSA: Fire PSA methodology and applications; Fire simulation codes; Ignition and damageability data; Modeling of fire spread on cables or other equipment; Modeling of smoke production and spread; Impact of smoke and heat on instrumentation, electronics, or other electrical equipment; Impact of actual cable fires on safety systems. The questionnaire requested specific information on these topics (e.g., computer codes used in fire PSAs, the physical parameters used to model ignition). Responses to the questionnaire were provided by Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the USA. This report summarizes the questionnaire responses and thereby: a) provides a perspective on the current fire PSA state of the art (SOAR) with respect to the issues listed above, and b) provides numerous references for more detailed information regarding these issues. The main responsibility for writing different chapters of this report was divided between some

  10. Utilizing Multi-Sensor Fire Detections to Map Fires in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, S. M.; Picotte, J. J.; Coan, M. J.

    2014-11-01

    In 2006, the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project began a cooperative effort between the US Forest Service (USFS) and the U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) to map and assess burn severity all large fires that have occurred in the United States since 1984. Using Landsat imagery, MTBS is mandated to map wildfire and prescribed fire that meet specific size criteria: greater than 1000 acres in the west and 500 acres in the east, regardless of ownership. Relying mostly on federal and state fire occurrence records, over 15,300 individual fires have been mapped. While mapping recorded fires, an additional 2,700 "unknown" or undocumented fires were discovered and assessed. It has become apparent that there are perhaps thousands of undocumented fires in the US that are yet to be mapped. Fire occurrence records alone are inadequate if MTBS is to provide a comprehensive accounting of fire across the US. Additionally, the sheer number of fires to assess has overwhelmed current manual procedures. To address these problems, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Applied Sciences Program is helping to fund the efforts of the USGS and its MTBS partners (USFS, National Park Service) to develop, and implement a system to automatically identify fires using satellite data. In near real time, USGS will combine active fire satellite detections from MODIS, AVHRR and GOES satellites with Landsat acquisitions. Newly acquired Landsat imagery will be routinely scanned to identify freshly burned area pixels, derive an initial perimeter and tag the burned area with the satellite date and time of detection. Landsat imagery from the early archive will be scanned to identify undocumented fires. Additional automated fire assessment processes will be developed. The USGS will develop these processes using open source software packages in order to provide freely available tools to local land managers providing them with the capability to assess fires at the local level.

  11. Crown Fire Potential

    Data.gov (United States)

    Earth Data Analysis Center, University of New Mexico — Crown fire potential was modeled using FlamMap, an interagency fire behavior mapping and analysis program that computes potential fire behavior characteristics. The...

  12. Operating room fire prevention: creating an electrosurgical unit fire safety device.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Culp, William C; Kimbrough, Bradly A; Luna, Sarah; Maguddayao, Aris J

    2014-08-01

    To reduce the incidence of surgical fires. Operating room fires represent a potentially life-threatening hazard and are triggered by the electrosurgical unit (ESU) pencil. Carbon dioxide is a fire suppressant and is a routinely used medical gas. We hypothesize that a shroud of protective carbon dioxide covering the tip of the ESU pencil displaces oxygen, thereby preventing fire ignition. Using 3-dimensional modeling techniques, a polymer sleeve was created and attached to an ESU pencil. This sleeve was connected to a carbon dioxide source and directed the gas through multiple precisely angled ports, generating a cone of fire-suppressive carbon dioxide surrounding the active pencil tip. This device was evaluated in a flammability test chamber containing 21%, 50%, and 100% oxygen with sustained ESU activation. The sleeve was tested with and without carbon dioxide (control) until a fuel was ignited or 30 seconds elapsed. Time to ignition was measured by high-speed videography. Fires were ignited with each control trial (15/15 trials). The control group median ± SD ignition time in 21% oxygen was 3.0 ± 2.4 seconds, in 50% oxygen was 0.1 ± 1.8 seconds, and in 100% oxygen was 0.03 ± 0.1 seconds. No fire was observed when the fire safety device was used in all concentrations of oxygen (0/15 trials; P fire ignition was 76% to 100%. A sleeve creating a cone of protective carbon dioxide gas enshrouding the sparks from an ESU pencil effectively prevents fire in a high-flammability model. Clinical application of this device may reduce the incidence of operating room fires.

  13. Active Fire Mapping Program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Active Fire Mapping Program Current Large Incidents (Home) New Large Incidents Fire Detection Maps MODIS Satellite Imagery VIIRS Satellite Imagery Fire Detection GIS Data Fire Data in Google Earth ...

  14. Mapping regional patterns of large forest fires in Wildland-Urban Interface areas in Europe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Modugno, Sirio; Balzter, Heiko; Cole, Beth; Borrelli, Pasquale

    2016-05-01

    Over recent decades, Land Use and Cover Change (LUCC) trends in many regions of Europe have reconfigured the landscape structures around many urban areas. In these areas, the proximity to landscape elements with high forest fuels has increased the fire risk to people and property. These Wildland-Urban Interface areas (WUI) can be defined as landscapes where anthropogenic urban land use and forest fuel mass come into contact. Mapping their extent is needed to prioritize fire risk control and inform local forest fire risk management strategies. This study proposes a method to map the extent and spatial patterns of the European WUI areas at continental scale. Using the European map of WUI areas, the hypothesis is tested that the distance from the nearest WUI area is related to the forest fire probability. Statistical relationships between the distance from the nearest WUI area, and large forest fire incidents from satellite remote sensing were subsequently modelled by logistic regression analysis. The first European scale map of the WUI extent and locations is presented. Country-specific positive and negative relationships of large fires and the proximity to the nearest WUI area are found. A regional-scale analysis shows a strong influence of the WUI zones on large fires in parts of the Mediterranean regions. Results indicate that the probability of large burned surfaces increases with diminishing WUI distance in touristic regions like Sardinia, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, or in regions with a strong peri-urban component as Catalunya, Comunidad de Madrid, Comunidad Valenciana. For the above regions, probability curves of large burned surfaces show statistical relationships (ROC value > 0.5) inside a 5000 m buffer of the nearest WUI. Wise land management can provide a valuable ecosystem service of fire risk reduction that is currently not explicitly included in ecosystem service valuations. The results re-emphasise the importance of including this ecosystem service

  15. Development of the fire PSA methodology and the fire analysis computer code system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katsunori, Ogura; Tomomichi, Ito; Tsuyoshi, Uchida; Yusuke, Kasagawa

    2009-01-01

    Fire PSA methodology has been developed and was applied to NPPs in Japan for power operation and LPSD states. CDFs of preliminary fire PSA for power operation were the higher than that of internal events. Fire propagation analysis code system (CFAST/FDS Network) was being developed and verified thru OECD-PRISME Project. Extension of the scope for LPSD state is planned to figure out the risk level. In order to figure out the fire risk level precisely, the enhancement of the methodology is planned. Verification and validation of phenomenological fire propagation analysis code (CFAST/FDS Network) in the context of Fire PSA. Enhancement of the methodology such as an application of 'Electric Circuit Analysis' in NUREG/CR-6850 and related tests in order to quantify the hot-short effect precisely. Development of seismic-induced fire PSA method being integration of existing seismic PSA and fire PSA methods is ongoing. Fire PSA will be applied to review the validity of fire prevention and mitigation measures

  16. Assessing post-fire ground cover in Mediterranean shrublands with field spectrometry and digital photography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montorio Llovería, Raquel; Pérez-Cabello, Fernando; García-Martín, Alberto

    2016-09-01

    Fire severity can be assessed by identifying and quantifying the fractional abundance of post-fire ground cover types, an approach with great capacity to predict ecosystem response. Focused on shrubland formations of Mediterranean-type ecosystems, three burned areas (Ibieca and Zuera wildfires and Peñaflor experimental fire) were sampled in the summers of 2006 and 2007. Two different ground measurements were made for each of the 356 plots: (i) 3-band high spatial resolution photography (HSRP) and (ii) the hemispherical-conical reflectance factor (HCRF) in the visible to near-infrared spectral range (VNIR, 400-900 nm). Stepwise multiple lineal regression (SMLR) models were fitted to spectral variables (HCRF, first derivative spectra or FDS, and four absorption indices) to estimate the fractional cover of seven post-fire ground cover types (vegetation and soil - unburned and charred components - and ash - char and ash, individually and as a combined category). Models were developed and validated at the Peñaflor site (training, n = 217; validation, n = 88) and applied to the samples from the Ibieca and Zuera sites (n = 51). The best results were observed for the abundance estimations of green vegetation (Radj.20.70-0.90), unburned soil (Radj.20.40-0.75), and the combination of ashes (Radj.20.65-0.80). In comparison of spectral data, FDS outperforms reflectance or absorption data because of its higher accuracy levels and, importantly, its greater capacity to yield generalizable models. Future efforts should be made to improve the estimation of intermediate severity levels and upscaling the developed models. In the context of fire severity assessment, our study demonstrates the potential of hyperspectral data to estimate in a quick and objective manner post-fire ground cover fractions and thus provide valuable information to guide management responses.

  17. Loft fire protection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    White, E.R.; Jensen, J.D.

    1980-01-01

    Quantified criteria that was developed and applied to provide in-depth fire protection for the Loss of Fluid Test (LOFT) Facility are presented. The presentation describes the evolution process that elevated the facility's fire protection from minimal to that required for a highly protected risk or improved risk. Explored are some infrequently used fire protection measures that are poorly understood outside the fire protection profession

  18. How fire history, fire suppression practices and climate change affect wildfire regimes in Mediterranean landscapes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lluís Brotons

    Full Text Available Available data show that future changes in global change drivers may lead to an increasing impact of fires on terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Yet, fire regime changes in highly humanised fire-prone regions are difficult to predict because fire effects may be heavily mediated by human activities We investigated the role of fire suppression strategies in synergy with climate change on the resulting fire regimes in Catalonia (north-eastern Spain. We used a spatially-explicit fire-succession model at the landscape level to test whether the use of different firefighting opportunities related to observed reductions in fire spread rates and effective fire sizes, and hence changes in the fire regime. We calibrated this model with data from a period with weak firefighting and later assess the potential for suppression strategies to modify fire regimes expected under different levels of climate change. When comparing simulations with observed fire statistics from an eleven-year period with firefighting strategies in place, our results showed that, at least in two of the three sub-regions analysed, the observed fire regime could not be reproduced unless taking into account the effects of fire suppression. Fire regime descriptors were highly dependent on climate change scenarios, with a general trend, under baseline scenarios without fire suppression, to large-scale increases in area burnt. Fire suppression strategies had a strong capacity to compensate for climate change effects. However, strong active fire suppression was necessary to accomplish such compensation, while more opportunistic fire suppression strategies derived from recent fire history only had a variable, but generally weak, potential for compensation of enhanced fire impacts under climate change. The concept of fire regime in the Mediterranean is probably better interpreted as a highly dynamic process in which the main determinants of fire are rapidly modified by changes in landscape

  19. How fire history, fire suppression practices and climate change affect wildfire regimes in Mediterranean landscapes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brotons, Lluís; Aquilué, Núria; de Cáceres, Miquel; Fortin, Marie-Josée; Fall, Andrew

    2013-01-01

    Available data show that future changes in global change drivers may lead to an increasing impact of fires on terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Yet, fire regime changes in highly humanised fire-prone regions are difficult to predict because fire effects may be heavily mediated by human activities We investigated the role of fire suppression strategies in synergy with climate change on the resulting fire regimes in Catalonia (north-eastern Spain). We used a spatially-explicit fire-succession model at the landscape level to test whether the use of different firefighting opportunities related to observed reductions in fire spread rates and effective fire sizes, and hence changes in the fire regime. We calibrated this model with data from a period with weak firefighting and later assess the potential for suppression strategies to modify fire regimes expected under different levels of climate change. When comparing simulations with observed fire statistics from an eleven-year period with firefighting strategies in place, our results showed that, at least in two of the three sub-regions analysed, the observed fire regime could not be reproduced unless taking into account the effects of fire suppression. Fire regime descriptors were highly dependent on climate change scenarios, with a general trend, under baseline scenarios without fire suppression, to large-scale increases in area burnt. Fire suppression strategies had a strong capacity to compensate for climate change effects. However, strong active fire suppression was necessary to accomplish such compensation, while more opportunistic fire suppression strategies derived from recent fire history only had a variable, but generally weak, potential for compensation of enhanced fire impacts under climate change. The concept of fire regime in the Mediterranean is probably better interpreted as a highly dynamic process in which the main determinants of fire are rapidly modified by changes in landscape, climate and

  20. How Fire History, Fire Suppression Practices and Climate Change Affect Wildfire Regimes in Mediterranean Landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brotons, Lluís; Aquilué, Núria; de Cáceres, Miquel; Fortin, Marie-Josée; Fall, Andrew

    2013-01-01

    Available data show that future changes in global change drivers may lead to an increasing impact of fires on terrestrial ecosystems worldwide. Yet, fire regime changes in highly humanised fire-prone regions are difficult to predict because fire effects may be heavily mediated by human activities We investigated the role of fire suppression strategies in synergy with climate change on the resulting fire regimes in Catalonia (north-eastern Spain). We used a spatially-explicit fire-succession model at the landscape level to test whether the use of different firefighting opportunities related to observed reductions in fire spread rates and effective fire sizes, and hence changes in the fire regime. We calibrated this model with data from a period with weak firefighting and later assess the potential for suppression strategies to modify fire regimes expected under different levels of climate change. When comparing simulations with observed fire statistics from an eleven-year period with firefighting strategies in place, our results showed that, at least in two of the three sub-regions analysed, the observed fire regime could not be reproduced unless taking into account the effects of fire suppression. Fire regime descriptors were highly dependent on climate change scenarios, with a general trend, under baseline scenarios without fire suppression, to large-scale increases in area burnt. Fire suppression strategies had a strong capacity to compensate for climate change effects. However, strong active fire suppression was necessary to accomplish such compensation, while more opportunistic fire suppression strategies derived from recent fire history only had a variable, but generally weak, potential for compensation of enhanced fire impacts under climate change. The concept of fire regime in the Mediterranean is probably better interpreted as a highly dynamic process in which the main determinants of fire are rapidly modified by changes in landscape, climate and

  1. The OECD FIRE database

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Angner, A.; Berg, H.P.; Roewekamp, M.; Werner, W.; Gauvain, J.

    2007-01-01

    Realistic modelling of fire scenarios is still difficult due to the scarcity of reliable data needed for deterministic and probabilistic fire safety analysis. Therefore, it has been recognized as highly important to establish a fire event database on an international level. In consequence, several member countries of the Nuclear Energy Agency of the OECD have decided in 2000 to establish the International Fire Data Exchange Project (OECD FIRE) to encourage multilateral co-operation in the collection and analysis of data related to fire events at nuclear power plants. This paper presents the OECD FIRE project objectives, work scope and current status of the OECD FIRE database after 3 years of operation as well as first preliminary statistical insights gained from the collected data. (orig.)

  2. Biomass co-firing

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Yin, Chungen

    2013-01-01

    Co-firing biomass with fossil fuels in existing power plants is an attractive option for significantly increasing renewable energy resource utilization and reducing CO2 emissions. This chapter mainly discusses three direct co-firing technologies: pulverized-fuel (PF) boilers, fluidized-bed combus......Co-firing biomass with fossil fuels in existing power plants is an attractive option for significantly increasing renewable energy resource utilization and reducing CO2 emissions. This chapter mainly discusses three direct co-firing technologies: pulverized-fuel (PF) boilers, fluidized......-bed combustion (FBC) systems, and grate-firing systems, which are employed in about 50%, 40% and 10% of all the co-firing plants, respectively. Their basic principles, process technologies, advantages, and limitations are presented, followed by a brief comparison of these technologies when applied to biomass co...

  3. 30 CFR 75.1103-6 - Automatic fire sensors; actuation of fire suppression systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Automatic fire sensors; actuation of fire... Protection § 75.1103-6 Automatic fire sensors; actuation of fire suppression systems. Point-type heat sensors or automatic fire sensor and warning device systems may be used to actuate deluge-type water systems...

  4. Fire protection in ventilation systems and in case of fire operating ventilation systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zitzelsberger, J.

    1983-01-01

    The fire risks in ventilation systems are discussed. It follows a survey of regulations on fire prevention and fire protection in ventilation systems and smoke and heat exhaust systems applicable to nuclear installations in the Federal Republic of Germany. Fire protection concepts for normal systems and for systems operating also in case of fire will be given. Several structural elements for fire protection in those systems will be illustrated with regard to recent research findings

  5. Quantitative comparison of fire danger index performance using fire activity

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Steenkamp, KC

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available parameters such as flame length or rate of spread can be physically measured or modeled. Fire danger indices are not designed to describe the characteristics of a fire but rather the potential of a fire taking place in an area of interest [5]. Several...

  6. The Pictorial Fire Stroop: A Measure of Processing Bias for Fire-Related Stimuli

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallagher-Duffy, Joanne; MacKay, Sherri; Duffy, Jim; Sullivan-Thomas, Meara; Peterson-Badali, Michele

    2009-01-01

    Fire interest is a risk factor for firesetting. This study tested whether a fire-specific emotional Stroop task can effectively measure an information-processing bias for fire-related stimuli. Clinic-referred and nonreferred adolescents (aged 13-16 years) completed a pictorial "Fire Stroop," as well as a self-report fire interest questionnaire and…

  7. Applications of Living Fire PRA models to Fire Protection Significance Determination Process in Taiwan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De-Cheng, Chen; Chung-Kung, Lo; Tsu-Jen, Lin; Ching-Hui, Wu; Lin, James C.

    2004-01-01

    The living fire probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) models for all three operating nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Taiwan had been established in December 2000. In that study, a scenario-based PRA approach was adopted to systematically evaluate the fire and smoke hazards and associated risks. Using these fire PRA models developed, a risk-informed application project had also been completed in December 2002 for the evaluation of cable-tray fire-barrier wrapping exemption. This paper presents a new application of the fire PRA models to fire protection issues using the fire protection significance determination process (FP SDP). The fire protection issues studied may involve the selection of appropriate compensatory measures during the period when an automatic fire detection or suppression system in a safety-related fire zone becomes inoperable. The compensatory measure can either be a 24-hour fire watch or an hourly fire patrol. The living fire PRA models were used to estimate the increase in risk associated with the fire protection issue in terms of changes in core damage frequency (CDF) and large early release frequency (LERF). In compliance with SDP at-power and the acceptance guidelines specified in RG 1.174, the fire protection issues in question can be grouped into four categories; red, yellow, white and green, in accordance with the guidelines developed for FD SDP. A 24-hour fire watch is suggested only required for the yellow condition, while an hourly fire patrol may be adopted for the white condition. More limiting requirement is suggested for the red condition, but no special consideration is needed for the green condition. For the calculation of risk measures, risk impacts from any additional fire scenarios that may have been introduced, as well as more severe initiating events and fire damages that may accompany the fire protection issue should be considered carefully. Examples are presented in this paper to illustrate the evaluation process. (authors)

  8. Fire protection: no fire without smoke. CCTV breakthrough in fire detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anon.

    1997-01-01

    A new CCTV-based fire detection system uses advanced software to detect and locate smoke and vapour from a fire before it becomes visible to the human eye, but is intelligent enough to avoid false alarms due to steam, moving machinery or operating staff in the monitored area. The starting point for the development effort was video motion detection software as used in the security industry. (author)

  9. Advanced Fire Information System - A real time fire information system for Africa

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frost, P. E.; Roy, D. P.

    2012-12-01

    The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) lead by the Meraka Institute and supported by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) developed the Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) to provide near real time fire information to a variety of operational and science fire users including disaster managers, fire fighters, farmers and forest managers located across Southern and Eastern Africa. The AFIS combines satellite data with ground based observations and statistics and distributes the information via mobile phone technology. The system was launched in 2004, and Eskom (South Africa' and Africa's largest power utility) quickly became the biggest user and today more than 300 Eskom line managers and support staff receive cell phone and email fire alert messages whenever a wildfire is within 2km of any of the 28 000km of Eskom electricity transmission lines. The AFIS uses Earth observation satellites from NASA and Europe to detect possible actively burning fires and their fire radiative power (FRP). The polar orbiting MODIS Terra and Aqua satellites provide data at around 10am, 15pm, 22am and 3am daily, while the European Geostationary MSG satellite provides 15 minute updates at lower spatial resolution. The AFIS processing system ingests the raw satellite data and within minutes of the satellite overpass generates fire location and FRP based fire intensity information. The AFIS and new functionality are presented including an incident report and permiting system that can be used to differentiate between prescribed burns and uncontrolled wild fires, and the provision of other information including 5-day fire danger forecasts, vegetation curing information and historical burned area maps. A new AFIS mobile application for IOS and Android devices as well as a fire reporting tool are showcased that enable both the dissemination and alerting of fire information and enable user upload of geo tagged photographs and on the fly creation of fire reports

  10. Fire safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Keski-Rahkonen, O.; Bjoerkman, J.; Hostikka, S.; Mangs, J.; Huhtanen, R.; Palmen, H.; Salminen, A.; Turtola, A.

    1998-01-01

    According to experience and probabilistic risk assessments, fires present a significant hazard in a nuclear power plant. Fires may be initial events for accidents or affect safety systems planned to prevent accidents and to mitigate their consequences. The project consists of theoretical work, experiments and simulations aiming to increase the fire safety at nuclear power plants. The project has four target areas: (1) to produce validated models for numerical simulation programmes, (2) to produce new information on the behavior of equipment in case of fire, (3) to study applicability of new active fire protecting systems in nuclear power plants, and (4) to obtain quantitative knowledge of ignitions induced by important electric devices in nuclear power plants. These topics have been solved mainly experimentally, but modelling at different level is used to interpret experimental data, and to allow easy generalisation and engineering use of the obtained data. Numerical fire simulation has concentrated in comparison of CFD modelling of room fires, and fire spreading on cables on experimental data. So far the success has been good to fair. A simple analytical and numerical model has been developed for fire effluents spreading beyond the room of origin in mechanically strongly ventilated compartments. For behaviour of equipment in fire several full scale and scaled down calorimetric experiments were carried out on electronic cabinets, as well as on horizontal and vertical cable trays. These were carried out to supply material for CFD numerical simulation code validation. Several analytical models were developed and validated against obtained experimental results to allow quick calculations for PSA estimates as well as inter- and extrapolations to slightly different objects. Response times of different commercial fire detectors were determined for different types of smoke, especially emanating from smoldering and flaming cables to facilitate selection of proper detector

  11. Nuclear power plant fire protection: fire detection (subsystems study Task 2)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berry, D.L.

    1977-12-01

    This report examines the adequacy of fire detection in the context of nuclear power plant safety. Topics considered are: (1) establishing area detection requirements, (2) selecting specific detector types, (3) locating and spacing detectors, and (4) performing installation tests and maintenance. Based on a thorough review of fire detection codes and standards and fire detection literature, the report concludes that current design and regulatory guidelines alone are insufficient to ensure satisfactory fire detection system performance. To assure adequate fire detection, this report recommends the use of in-place testing of detectors under conditions expected to occur normally in areas being protected

  12. Fire Models and Design Fires

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Poulsen, Annemarie

    The aim of this project is to perform an experimental study on the influence of the thermal feedback on the burning behavior of well ventilated pre-flashover fires. For the purpose an experimental method has been developed. Here the same identical objects are tested under free burn conditions...... carried out by Carleton University and NRC-IRC performed on seven different types of fire loads representing commercial premises, comprise the tests used for the study. The results show that for some of the room test the heat release rate increased due to thermal feedback compared to free burn for a pre......-flashover fire. Two phenomena were observed, that relate well to theory was found. In an incipient phase the heat release rate rose with the temperature of the smoke layer/enclosure boundaries. This increase was also found to depend on the flammability properties of the burning object. The results also...

  13. Fire danger and fire behavior modeling systems in Australia, Europe, and North America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francis M. Fujioka; A. Malcolm Gill; Domingos X. Viegas; B. Mike Wotton

    2009-01-01

    Wildland fire occurrence and behavior are complex phenomena involving essentially fuel (vegetation), topography, and weather. Fire managers around the world use a variety of systems to track and predict fire danger and fire behavior, at spatial scales that span from local to global extents, and temporal scales ranging from minutes to seasons. The fire management...

  14. Fire Ant Bites

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Favorite Name: Category: Share: Yes No, Keep Private Fire Ant Bites Share | Fire ants are aggressive, venomous insects that have pinching ... across the United States, even into Puerto Rico. Fire ant stings usually occur on the feet or ...

  15. Fire protection for clean rooms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kirson, D.

    1990-01-01

    The fire protection engineer often must decide what size fire can be tolerated before automatic fire suppression systems actuate. Is it a wastepaper basket fire, a bushel basket fire...? In the case of state-of-the-art clean rooms, the answer clearly is not even an incipient fire. Minor fires in clean rooms can cause major losses. This paper discusses what a clean room is and gives a brief overview of the unique fire protection challenges encountered. The two major causes of fire related to clean rooms in the semiconductor industry are flammable/pyrophoric gas fires in plastic ducts and polypropylene wet bench fires. This paper concentrates on plastic ductwork in clean rooms, sprinkler protection in ductwork, and protection for wet benches

  16. Ecological fire use for ecological fire management: Managing large wildfires by design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timothy Ingalsbee

    2015-01-01

    Past fire exclusion policies and fire suppression actions have led to a historic "fire deficit" on public wildlands. These sociocultural actions have led to unprecedented environmental changes that have created conditions conducive to more frequent large-scale wildfires. Politicians, the newsmedia, and agency officials portray large wildland fires as...

  17. Biomass co-firing in coal power plants in the Netherlands. Effects on performance and air pollutant emissions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Smekens, K. [ECN Policy Studies, Petten (Netherlands)

    2013-07-15

    This note is intended for use in the UNECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe)-EGTEI (Expert Group on Techno-Economic Issues) work related to cost of emission reduction technologies for large combustion plants (LCP). This work is coordinated by KIT (Karlsruhe) and CITEPA (Paris). As the Netherlands is considered to be a valuable country for data regarding biomass co-firing in large coal fired power plants, EGTEI expressed its interest on data ECN has available. For this purpose, based on available data from annual environmental reports of power plants, ECN has looked into the relationship between the percentage of co -firing and the plant performance. It should be noted that the evaluation has been based on annual data, not on real-time simultaneous measurements of the different parameters mentioned in this note. Cumulative annual data give no insights in e.g. the effects of the load factor, of start-ups or shut-downs, seasonal circumstances, fuel qualities, etc. Therefore, the findings in this report should be treated with due care and not be generalised.

  18. Fire Safety (For Parents)

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Fire Safety KidsHealth / For Parents / Fire Safety What's in ... event of a fire emergency in your home. Fire Prevention Of course, the best way to practice ...

  19. Luminescent, Fire-Resistant, and Water-Proof Ultralong Hydroxyapatite Nanowire-Based Paper for Multimode Anticounterfeiting Applications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Ri-Long; Zhu, Ying-Jie; Chen, Fei-Fei; Dong, Li-Ying; Xiong, Zhi-Chao

    2017-08-02

    Counterfeiting of valuable certificates, documents, and banknotes is a serious issue worldwide. As a result, the need for developing novel anticounterfeiting materials is greatly increasing. Herein, we report a new kind of ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowire (HAPNW)-based paper with luminescence, fire resistance, and waterproofness properties that may be exploited for anticounterfeiting applications. In this work, lanthanide-ion-doped HAPNWs (HAPNW:Ln 3+ ) with lengths over 100 μm have been synthesized and used as a raw material to fabricating a free-standing luminescent, fire-resistant, water-proof paper through a simple vacuum filtration process. It is interesting to find that the luminescence intensity, structure, and morphology of HAPNW:Ln 3+ highly depend on the experimental conditions. The as-prepared HAPNW:Ln 3+ paper has a unique combination of properties, such as high flexibility, good processability, writing and printing abilities, luminescence, tunable emission color, waterproofness, and fire resistance. In addition, a well-designed pattern can be embedded in the paper that is invisible under ambient light but viewable as a luminescent color under ultraviolet light. Moreover, the HAPNW:Ln 3+ paper can be well-preserved without any damage after being burned by fire or soaked in water. The unique combination of luminescence, fire resistance, and waterproofness properties and the nanowire structure of the as-prepared HAPNW:Ln 3+ paper may be exploited toward developing a new kind of multimode anticounterfeiting technology for various high-level security antiforgery applications, such as in making forgery-proof documents, certificates, labels, and tags and in packaging.

  20. Seasonality of fire weather strongly influences fire regimes in South Florida savanna-grassland landscapes.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    William J Platt

    Full Text Available Fire seasonality, an important characteristic of fire regimes, commonly is delineated using seasons based on single weather variables (rainfall or temperature. We used nonparametric cluster analyses of a 17-year (1993-2009 data set of weather variables that influence likelihoods and spread of fires (relative humidity, air temperature, solar radiation, wind speed, soil moisture to explore seasonality of fire in pine savanna-grassland landscapes at the Avon Park Air Force Range in southern Florida. A four-variable, three-season model explained more variation within fire weather variables than models with more seasons. The three-season model also delineated intra-annual timing of fire more accurately than a conventional rainfall-based two-season model. Two seasons coincided roughly with dry and wet seasons based on rainfall. The third season, which we labeled the fire season, occurred between dry and wet seasons and was characterized by fire-promoting conditions present annually: drought, intense solar radiation, low humidity, and warm air temperatures. Fine fuels consisting of variable combinations of pyrogenic pine needles, abundant C4 grasses, and flammable shrubs, coupled with low soil moisture, and lightning ignitions early in the fire season facilitate natural landscape-scale wildfires that burn uplands and across wetlands. We related our three season model to fires with different ignition sources (lightning, military missions, and prescribed fires over a 13-year period with fire records (1997-2009. Largest wildfires originate from lightning and military ignitions that occur within the early fire season substantially prior to the peak of lightning strikes in the wet season. Prescribed ignitions, in contrast, largely occur outside the fire season. Our delineation of a pronounced fire season provides insight into the extent to which different human-derived fire regimes mimic lightning fire regimes. Delineation of a fire season associated with

  1. Seasonality of Fire Weather Strongly Influences Fire Regimes in South Florida Savanna-Grassland Landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Platt, William J.; Orzell, Steve L.; Slocum, Matthew G.

    2015-01-01

    Fire seasonality, an important characteristic of fire regimes, commonly is delineated using seasons based on single weather variables (rainfall or temperature). We used nonparametric cluster analyses of a 17-year (1993–2009) data set of weather variables that influence likelihoods and spread of fires (relative humidity, air temperature, solar radiation, wind speed, soil moisture) to explore seasonality of fire in pine savanna-grassland landscapes at the Avon Park Air Force Range in southern Florida. A four-variable, three-season model explained more variation within fire weather variables than models with more seasons. The three-season model also delineated intra-annual timing of fire more accurately than a conventional rainfall-based two-season model. Two seasons coincided roughly with dry and wet seasons based on rainfall. The third season, which we labeled the fire season, occurred between dry and wet seasons and was characterized by fire-promoting conditions present annually: drought, intense solar radiation, low humidity, and warm air temperatures. Fine fuels consisting of variable combinations of pyrogenic pine needles, abundant C4 grasses, and flammable shrubs, coupled with low soil moisture, and lightning ignitions early in the fire season facilitate natural landscape-scale wildfires that burn uplands and across wetlands. We related our three season model to fires with different ignition sources (lightning, military missions, and prescribed fires) over a 13-year period with fire records (1997–2009). Largest wildfires originate from lightning and military ignitions that occur within the early fire season substantially prior to the peak of lightning strikes in the wet season. Prescribed ignitions, in contrast, largely occur outside the fire season. Our delineation of a pronounced fire season provides insight into the extent to which different human-derived fire regimes mimic lightning fire regimes. Delineation of a fire season associated with timing of

  2. National and international standards and recommendations on fire protection and fire safety assessment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berg, H.P.

    2007-01-01

    Experience feedback from events in nuclear facilities worldwide has shown that fire can represent a safety significant hazard. Thus, the primary objectives of fire protection programmes are to minimize both the probability of occurrence and the consequences of a fire. The regulator body expects that the licensees justify their arrangements for identifying how fires can occur and spread, assess the vulnerability of plant equipment and structures, determine how the safe operation of a plant is affected, and introduce measures to prevent a fire hazard from developing and propagating as well as to mitigate its effects in case the fire cannot be prevented. For that purpose usually a comprehensive regulatory framework for fire protection has been elaborated, based on national industrial regulations, nuclear specific regulations as well as international recommendations or requirements. Examples of such national and international standards and recommendations on fire protection and fire safety assessment as well as ongoing activities in this field are described. (orig.)

  3. Fire protection program fiscal year 1995 site support program plan, Hanford Fire Department

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Good, D.E.

    1994-09-01

    The mission of the Hanford Fire Department (HFD) is to support the safe and timely cleanup of the Hanford site by providing fire suppression, fire prevention, emergency rescue, emergency medical service, and hazardous materials response; and to be capable of dealing with and terminating emergency situations which could threaten the operations, employees, or interest of the US Department of Energy operated Hanford Site. This includes response to surrounding fire departments/districts under a mutual aid agreement and contractual fire fighting, hazardous materials, and ambulance support to Washington Public Power Supply System (Supply System). The fire department also provides site fire marshal overview authority, fire system testing and maintenance, self-contained breathing apparatus maintenance, building tours and inspections, ignitable and reactive waste site inspections, prefire planning, and employee fire prevention education. This report describes the specific responsibilities and programs that the HFD must support and the estimated cost of this support for FY1995

  4. Fire, safety and ventilation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hindle, D.

    1999-02-01

    Correct ventilation in tunnel environments is vital for the comfort and safety of the people passing through. This article gives details of products from several manufacturers of safety rescue and fire fighting equipment, fire and fume detection equipment, special fire resistant materials, fire resistant hydraulic oils and fire dampers, and ventilation systems. Company addresses and fax numbers are supplied. 4 refs., 5 tabs., 10 photos.

  5. Remote sensing techniques to assess active fire characteristics and post-fire effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leigh B. Lentile; Zachary A. Holden; Alistair M. S. Smith; Michael J. Falkowski; Andrew T. Hudak; Penelope Morgan; Sarah A. Lewis; Paul E. Gessler; Nate C. Benson

    2006-01-01

    Space and airborne sensors have been used to map area burned, assess characteristics of active fires, and characterize post-fire ecological effects. Confusion about fire intensity, fire severity, burn severity, and related terms can result in the potential misuse of the inferred information by land managers and remote sensing practitioners who require unambiguous...

  6. Delay-induced diversity of firing behavior and ordered chaotic firing in adaptive neuronal networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gong Yubing; Wang Li; Xu Bo

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we study the effect of time delay on the firing behavior and temporal coherence and synchronization in Newman–Watts thermosensitive neuron networks with adaptive coupling. At beginning, the firing exhibit disordered spiking in absence of time delay. As time delay is increased, the neurons exhibit diversity of firing behaviors including bursting with multiple spikes in a burst, spiking, bursting with four, three and two spikes, firing death, and bursting with increasing amplitude. The spiking is the most ordered, exhibiting coherence resonance (CR)-like behavior, and the firing synchronization becomes enhanced with the increase of time delay. As growth rate of coupling strength or network randomness increases, CR-like behavior shifts to smaller time delay and the synchronization of firing increases. These results show that time delay can induce diversity of firing behaviors in adaptive neuronal networks, and can order the chaotic firing by enhancing and optimizing the temporal coherence and enhancing the synchronization of firing. However, the phenomenon of firing death shows that time delay may inhibit the firing of adaptive neuronal networks. These findings provide new insight into the role of time delay in the firing activity of adaptive neuronal networks, and can help to better understand the complex firing phenomena in neural networks.

  7. Switchgrass a valuable biomass crop for energy

    CERN Document Server

    2012-01-01

    The demand of renewable energies is growing steadily both from policy and from industry which seeks environmentally friendly feed stocks. The recent policies enacted by the EU, USA and other industrialized countries foresee an increased interest in the cultivation of energy crops; there is clear evidence that switchgrass is one of the most promising biomass crop for energy production and bio-based economy and compounds. Switchgrass: A Valuable Biomass Crop for Energy provides a comprehensive guide to  switchgrass in terms of agricultural practices, potential use and markets, and environmental and social benefits. Considering this potential energy source from its biology, breed and crop physiology to its growth and management to the economical, social and environmental impacts, Switchgrass: A Valuable Biomass Crop for Energy brings together chapters from a range of experts in the field, including a foreword from Kenneth P. Vogel, to collect and present the environmental benefits and characteristics of this a ...

  8. Fires in Chile

    Science.gov (United States)

    2002-01-01

    On February 5, 2002, the dense smoke from numerous forest fires stretched out over the Pacific Ocean about 400 miles south of Santiago, Chile. This true-color Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image shows the fires, which are located near the city of Temuco. The fires are indicated with red dots (boxes in the high-resolution imagery). The fires were burning near several national parks and nature reserves in an area of the Chilean Andes where tourism is very popular. Southeast of the fires, the vegetation along the banks of the Rio Negro in Argentina stands out in dark green. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC

  9. The Effects of Vegetative Type, Edges, Fire History, Rainfall and Management in Fire-Maintained Habitat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breininger, David R.; Foster, Tammy E.; Carter, Geoffrey M.; Duncan, Brean W.; Stolen, Eric D.; Lyon, James E.

    2018-01-01

    The combined effects of fire history, climate, and landscape features (e.g., edges) on habitat specialists need greater focus in fire ecology studies, which usually only emphasize characteristics of the most recent fire. Florida scrub-jays are an imperiled, territorial species that prefer medium (1.2-1.7 m) shrub heights, which are dynamic because of frequent fires. We measured short, medium, and tall habitat quality states annually within 10 ha grid cells (that represented potential territories) because fires and vegetative recovery cause annual variation in habitat quality. We used multistate models and model selection to test competing hypotheses about how transition probabilities vary between states as functions of environmental covariates. Covariates included vegetative type, edges (e.g., roads, forests), precipitation, openings (gaps between shrubs), mechanical cutting, and fire characteristics. Fire characteristics not only included an annual presence/absence of fire covariate, but also fire history covariates: time since the previous fire, the longest fire-free interval, and the number of repeated fires. Statistical models with support included many covariates for each transition probability, often including fire history, interactions and nonlinear relationships. Tall territories resulted from 28 years of fire suppression and habitat fragmentation that reduced the spread of fires across landscapes. Despite 35 years of habitat restoration and prescribed fires, half the territories remained tall suggesting a regime shift to a less desirable habitat condition. Edges reduced the effectiveness of fires in setting degraded scrub and flatwoods into earlier successional states making mechanical cutting an important tool to compliment frequent prescribed fires.

  10. Fire Risk Scoping Study: Investigation of nuclear power plant fire risk, including previously unaddressed issues

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lambright, J.A.; Nowlen, S.P.; Nicolette, V.F.; Bohn, M.P.

    1989-01-01

    An investigation of nuclear power plant fire risk issues raised as a result of the USNRC sponsored Fire Protection Research Program at Sandia National Laboratories has been performed. The specific objectives of this study were (1) to review and requantify fire risk scenarios from four fire probabilistic risk assessments (PRAs) in light of updated data bases made available as a result of USNRC sponsored Fire Protection Research Program and updated computer fire modeling capabilities, (2) to identify potentially significant fire risk issues that have not been previously addressed in a fire risk context and to quantify the potential impact of those identified fire risk issues where possible, and (3) to review current fire regulations and plant implementation practices for relevance to the identified unaddressed fire risk issues. In performance of the fire risk scenario requantifications several important insights were gained. It was found that utilization of a more extensive operational experience base resulted in both fire occurrence frequencies and fire duration times (i.e., time required for fire suppression) increasing significantly over those assumed in the original works. Additionally, some thermal damage threshold limits assumed in the original works were identified as being nonconservative based on more recent experimental data. Finally, application of the COMPBRN III fire growth model resulted in calculation of considerably longer fire damage times than those calculated in the original works using COMPBRN I. 14 refs., 2 figs., 16 tabs

  11. Designing fire safe interiors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Belles, D W

    1992-01-01

    Any product that causes a fire to grow large is deficient in fire safety performance. A large fire in any building represents a serious hazard. Multiple-death fires almost always are linked to fires that grow quickly to a large size. Interior finishes have large, continuous surfaces over which fire can spread. They are regulated to slow initial fire growth, and must be qualified for use on the basis of fire tests. To obtain meaningful results, specimens must be representative of actual installation. Variables--such as the substrate, the adhesive, and product thickness and density--can affect product performance. The tunnel test may not adequately evaluate some products, such as foam plastics or textile wall coverings, thermoplastic materials, or materials of minimal mass. Where questions exist, products should be evaluated on a full-scale basis. Curtains and draperies are examples of products that ignite easily and spread flames readily. The present method for testing curtains and draperies evaluates one fabric at a time. Although a fabric tested alone may perform well, fabrics that meet test standards individually sometimes perform poorly when tested in combination. Contents and furnishings constitute the major fuels in many fires. Contents may involve paper products and other lightweight materials that are easily ignited and capable of fast fire growth. Similarly, a small source may ignite many items of furniture that are capable of sustained fire growth. Upholstered furniture can reach peak burning rates in less than 5 minutes. Furnishings have been associated with many multiple-death fires.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  12. Review of UCN 5,6 Fire PSA Model based on ANS Fire PRA Standard

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang, Joon Eon; Lee, Yoon Hwan

    2006-12-01

    Recently, under the de-regulation environment, nuclear industry has attempted various approaches to improve the economics of Nuclear Power Plants (NPP). This approach uses the fire risk and performance information to manage the resources effectively and efficiently that are used in the operation of NPP. In fire risk informed/performance-based decision/operation, fire PSA quality is one of the most important things. The nuclear industry and regulatory body of U.S.A have developed a measure to evaluate the quality of fire PSA. ANS (American Nuclear Society) has developed a guidance called 'ANS Fire PRA Methodology Standard'. However, in Korea, there have been no attempts to evaluate the quality of fire PSA model itself. Therefore, we cannot be sure about the quality of fire PSA whether or not the present fire PSA model can be used for the risk-informed applications such as mentioned above. We can say that the evaluation of fire PSA model quality is the basis for the fire risk informed/performance-based decision/operation. In this report, we have evaluated the quality of fire PSA model for Ulchin 5 and 6 units based on the ANS Fire PRA Standard. We, also, have derived what items are to be improved to upgrade the quality of fire PSA model and how it can be improved. This report can be used as the base of the fire risk informed/performance-based decision/operation work in Korea

  13. Reduced frequency and severity of residential fires following delivery of fire prevention education by on-duty fire fighters: cluster randomized controlled study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clare, Joseph; Garis, Len; Plecas, Darryl; Jennings, Charles

    2012-04-01

    In 2008, Surrey Fire Services, British Columbia, commenced a firefighter-delivered, door-to-door fire-prevention education and smoke alarm examination/installation initiative with the intention of reducing the frequency and severity of residential structure fires in the City of Surrey. High-risk zones within the city were identified and 18,473 home visits were undertaken across seven temporal delivery cohorts (13.8% of non-apartment dwellings in the city). The frequency and severity of fires pre- and post- the home visit intervention was examined in comparison to randomized high-risk cluster controls. Overall, the frequency of fires was found to have reduced in the city overall, however, the reduction in the intervention cohorts was significantly larger than for controls. Furthermore, when fires did occur within the intervention cohorts, smoke detectors were activated more frequently and the fires were confined to the object of origin more often post-home visits. No equivalent pattern was observed for the cluster control. On-duty fire fighters can reduce the frequency and severity of residential fires through targeted, door-to-door distribution of fire prevention education in high-risk areas. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Fire test database

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, J.A.

    1989-01-01

    This paper describes a project recently completed for EPRI by Impell. The purpose of the project was to develop a reference database of fire tests performed on non-typical fire rated assemblies. The database is designed for use by utility fire protection engineers to locate test reports for power plant fire rated assemblies. As utilities prepare to respond to Information Notice 88-04, the database will identify utilities, vendors or manufacturers who have specific fire test data. The database contains fire test report summaries for 729 tested configurations. For each summary, a contact is identified from whom a copy of the complete fire test report can be obtained. Five types of configurations are included: doors, dampers, seals, wraps and walls. The database is computerized. One version for IBM; one for Mac. Each database is accessed through user-friendly software which allows adding, deleting, browsing, etc. through the database. There are five major database files. One each for the five types of tested configurations. The contents of each provides significant information regarding the test method and the physical attributes of the tested configuration. 3 figs

  15. Valuable human capital: the aging health care worker.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collins, Sandra K; Collins, Kevin S

    2006-01-01

    With the workforce growing older and the supply of younger workers diminishing, it is critical for health care managers to understand the factors necessary to capitalize on their vintage employees. Retaining this segment of the workforce has a multitude of benefits including the preservation of valuable intellectual capital, which is necessary to ensure that health care organizations maintain their competitive advantage in the consumer-driven market. Retaining the aging employee is possible if health care managers learn the motivators and training differences associated with this category of the workforce. These employees should be considered a valuable resource of human capital because without their extensive expertise, intense loyalty and work ethic, and superior customer service skills, health care organizations could suffer severe economic repercussions in the near future.

  16. Millennials in the Fire Service: The Effectiveness of Fire Service Recruiting, Testing, and Retention

    Science.gov (United States)

    2017-12-01

    Administration/US-fire-department-profile. 50 Taro Yamane, Statistics : An Introductory Analysis, 2nd ed. (New York: Harper and Rowe, 1967), 886. 15...241096018-Is-there-a-better-approach-for-fire-department-testing/. Yamane, Taro. Statistics : An Introductory Analysis, 2nd ed. New York: Harper and...Fire Protection Association, January 2016), 21, http://www.nfpa.org/News-and-Research/Fire- statistics - and-reports/Fire- statistics /The-fire-service

  17. OntoFire: an ontology-based geo-portal for wildfires

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Kalabokidis

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available With the proliferation of the geospatial technologies on the Internet, the role of geo-portals (i.e. gateways to Spatial Data Infrastructures in the area of wildfires management emerges. However, keyword-based techniques often frustrate users when looking for data of interest in geo-portal environments, while little attention has been paid to shift from the conventional keyword-based to navigation-based mechanisms. The presented OntoFire system is an ontology-based geo-portal about wildfires. Through the proposed navigation mechanisms, the relationships between the data can be discovered, which would otherwise not be possible when using conventional querying techniques alone. End users can use the browsing interface to find resources of interest by using the navigation mechanisms provided. Data providers can use the publishing interface to submit new metadata, modify metadata or removing metadata in/from the catalogue. The proposed approach can improve the discovery of valuable information that is necessary to set priorities for disaster mitigation and prevention strategies. OntoFire aspires to be a focal point of integration and management of a very large amount of information, contributing in this way to the dissemination of knowledge and to the preparedness of the operational stakeholders.

  18. 75 FR 221 - Airworthiness Directives; Fire Fighting Enterprises Limited Portable Halon 1211 Fire...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-05

    ... Airworthiness Directives; Fire Fighting Enterprises Limited Portable Halon 1211 Fire Extinguishers as Installed... specification, have been supplied to the aviation industry for use in fire extinguishing equipment. * * * * * * * * * * * This Halon 1211 has subsequently been used to fill certain FFE [Fire Fighting Enterprises] portable...

  19. Large-scale pool fires

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Steinhaus Thomas

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available A review of research into the burning behavior of large pool fires and fuel spill fires is presented. The features which distinguish such fires from smaller pool fires are mainly associated with the fire dynamics at low source Froude numbers and the radiative interaction with the fire source. In hydrocarbon fires, higher soot levels at increased diameters result in radiation blockage effects around the perimeter of large fire plumes; this yields lower emissive powers and a drastic reduction in the radiative loss fraction; whilst there are simplifying factors with these phenomena, arising from the fact that soot yield can saturate, there are other complications deriving from the intermittency of the behavior, with luminous regions of efficient combustion appearing randomly in the outer surface of the fire according the turbulent fluctuations in the fire plume. Knowledge of the fluid flow instabilities, which lead to the formation of large eddies, is also key to understanding the behavior of large-scale fires. Here modeling tools can be effectively exploited in order to investigate the fluid flow phenomena, including RANS- and LES-based computational fluid dynamics codes. The latter are well-suited to representation of the turbulent motions, but a number of challenges remain with their practical application. Massively-parallel computational resources are likely to be necessary in order to be able to adequately address the complex coupled phenomena to the level of detail that is necessary.

  20. Energy threat to valuable land

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Caufield, C.

    1982-01-01

    Having considered the varying estimates of future UK energy requirements which have been made, the impact on the environment arising from the use of valuable sites for energy production is examined. It is shown that energy installations of all kinds clash with areas of natural beauty or ecological importance. As an example, a recent investigation of potential sites for nuclear power stations found that most of them were on or next to sites of special scientific interest, and other areas officially designated to be regarded as special or to be protected in some way. (U.K.)

  1. The Effects of Vegetative Type, Edges, Fire History, Rainfall and Management in Fire-Maintained Ecosystems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Breininger, David R.; Foster, Tammy E.; Carter, Geoffrey M.; Duncan, Brean W.; Stolen, Eric D.; Lyon, James E.

    2017-01-01

    The combined effects of repeated fires, climate, and landscape features (e.g., edges) need greater focus in fire ecology studies, which usually emphasize characteristics of the most recent fire and not fire history. Florida scrub-jays are an imperiled, territorial species that prefer medium (1.2-1.7 m) shrub heights. We measured short, medium, and tall habitat quality states annually within 10 ha grid cells that represented potential territories because frequent fires and vegetative recovery cause annual variation in habitat quality. We used multistate models and model selection to test competing hypotheses about how transition probabilities between states varied annually as functions of environmental covariates. Covariates included vegetative type, edges, precipitation, openings (gaps between shrubs), mechanical cutting, and fire characteristics. Fire characteristics not only included an annual presenceabsence of fire covariate, but also fire history covariates: time since the previous fire, the maximum fire-free interval, and the number of repeated fires. Statistical models with support included many covariates for each transition probability, often including fire history, interactions and nonlinear relationships. Tall territories resulted from 28 years of fire suppression and habitat fragmentation that reduced the spread of fires across landscapes. Despite 35 years of habitat restoration and prescribed fires, half the territories remained tall suggesting a regime shift to a less desirable habitat condition. Measuring territory quality states and environmental covariates each year combined with multistate modeling provided a useful empirical approach to quantify the effects of repeated fire in combinations with environmental variables on transition probabilities that drive management strategies and ecosystem change.

  2. Fire Stations

    Data.gov (United States)

    Department of Homeland Security — Fire Stations in the United States Any location where fire fighters are stationed or based out of, or where equipment that such personnel use in carrying out their...

  3. Evaluation of forest fire on Madeira Island using Sentinel-2A MSI imagery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Navarro, Gabriel; Caballero, Isabel; Silva, Gustavo; Parra, Pedro-Cecilio; Vázquez, Águeda; Caldeira, Rui

    2017-06-01

    A forest fire started on August 8th, 2016 in several places on Madeira Island causing damage and casualties. As of August 10th the local media had reported the death of three people, over 200 people injured, over 950 habitants evacuated, and 50 houses damaged. This study presents the preliminary results of the assessment of several spectral indices to evaluate the burn severity of Madeira fires during August 2016. These spectral indices were calculated using the new European satellite Sentinel-2A launched in June 2015. The study confirmed the advantages of several spectral indices such as Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (GNDVI), Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVIreXn) using red-edge spectral bands to assess the post-fire conditions. Results showed high correlation between NDVI, GNDVI, NBR and NDVIre1n spectral indices and the analysis performed by Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMSR175), considered as the reference truth. Regarding the red-edge spectral indices, the NDVIre1n (using band B5, 705 nm) presented better results compared with B6 (740 nm) and B7 (783 nm) bands. These preliminary results allow us to assume that Sentinel-2 will be a valuable tool for post-fire monitoring. In the future, the two twin Sentinel-2 satellites will offer global coverage of the Madeira Archipelago every five days, therefore allowing the simultaneous study of the evolution of the burnt area and reforestation information with high spatial (up to 10 m) and temporal resolution (5 days).

  4. Fire Risk Assessment in Germany

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berg, H. P.

    2000-01-01

    Quantitative fire risk assessment can serve as an additional tool to assess the safety level of a nuclear power plant (NPP) and to set priorities for fire protection improvement measures. The recommended approach to be applied within periodic safety reviews of NPPs in Germany starts with a screening process providing critical fire zones in which a fully developed fire has the potential to both cause an initiating event and impair the function of at least one component or system critical to safety. The second step is to perform a quantitative analysis using a standard event tree has been developed with elements for fire initiation, ventilation of the room, fire detection, fire suppression, and fire propagation. In a final step, the fire induced frequency of initiating events, the main contributors and the calculated hazard state frequency for the fire event are determined. Results of the first quantitative fire risk studies performed in Germany are reported. (author)

  5. The role of fire severity, distance from fire perimeter and vegetation on post-fire recovery of small-mammal communities in chaparal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jay Diffendorfer; Genie M. Fleming; Scott Tremor; Wayne Spencer; Jan L. Beyers

    2012-01-01

    Chaparral shrublands in southern California, US, exhibit significant biodiversity but are prone to large, intense wildfires. Debate exists regarding fuel reduction to prevent such fires in wildland areas, but the effects of these fires on fauna are not well understood. We studied whether fire severity and distance from unburned fire perimeter influenced recovery of the...

  6. Modeling of compartment fire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sathiah, P.; Siccama, A.; Visser, D.; Komen, E.

    2011-01-01

    Fire accident in a containment is a serious threat to nuclear reactors. Fire can cause substantial loss to life and property. The risk posed by fire can also exceed the risk from internal events within a nuclear reactor. Numerous research efforts have been performed to understand and analyze the phenomenon of fire in nuclear reactor and its consequences. Modeling of fire is an important subject in the field of fire safety engineering. Two approaches which are commonly used in fire modeling are zonal modeling and field modeling. The objective of this work is to compare zonal and field modeling approach against a pool fired experiment performed in a well-confined compartment. Numerical simulations were performed against experiments, which were conducted within PRISME program under the framework of OECD. In these experiments, effects of ventilation flow rate on heat release rate in a confined and mechanically ventilated compartment is investigated. Time dependent changes in gas temperature and oxygen mass fraction were measured. The trends obtained by numerical simulation performed using zonal model and field model compares well with experiments. Further validation is needed before this code can be used for fire safety analyses. (author)

  7. Building 431 fire tests

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alvares, N.J.; Beason, D.G.; Ford, H.W.; Magee, M.W.

    1977-01-01

    An extensive discussion of considerations for fire protection in the LLL mirror fusion test facility (MFTF) is presented. Because of the large volume and high bays of the building, sufficient data on fire detection is unavailable. Results of fire detection tests using controlled fire sources in the building are presented. Extensive data concerning the behavior of the building atmosphere are included. Candidate fire detection instrumentation and extinguishing systems for use in the building are briefly reviewed

  8. The impact of state fire safe cigarette policies on fire fatalities, injuries, and incidents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Folz, David H; Shults, Chris

    Cigarettes are a leading cause of civilian deaths in home fires. Over the last decade, state fire service leaders and allied interest groups succeeded in persuading state lawmakers to require manufacturers to sell only low-ignition strength or "fire safe" cigarettes as a strategy to reduce these fatalities and the injuries and losses that stem from them. This article examines whether the states' fire safe cigarette laws actually helped to save lives, prevent injuries, and reduce the incidence of home fires ignited by cigarettes left unattended by smokers. Controlling for the effects of key demographic, social, economic, and housing variables, this study finds that the states' fire-safe cigarette policies had significant impacts on reducing the rate of smoking-related civilian fire deaths and the incidence of fires started by tobacco products. The findings also suggest that the states' fire safe cigarette policies may have helped to reduce the rate of smoking-related fire injuries. The study shows that collective actions by leaders in the fire service across the states can result in meaningful policy change that protects lives and advances public safety even when a political consensus for action is absent at the national level.

  9. FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Aristov Denis Ivanovich

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The All-Russian Congress “Fire Stop Moscow” was de-voted to the analysis of the four segments of the industry of fire protection systems and technologies: the design of fire protec-tion systems, the latest developments and technologies of active and passive fire protection of buildings, the state and the devel-opment of the legal framework, the practice of fire protection of buildings and structures. The forum brought together the repre-sentatives of the industry of fire protection systems, scientists, leading experts, specialists in fire protection and representatives of construction companies from different regions of Russia. In parallel with the Congress Industrial Exhibition of fire protection systems, materials and technology was held, where manufacturers presented their products. The urgency of the “Fire Stop Moscow” Congress in 2015 organized by the Congress Bureau ODF Events lies primarily in the fact that it considered the full range of issues related to the fire protection of building and construction projects; studied the state of the regulatory framework for fire safety and efficiency of public services, research centers, private companies and busi-nesses in the area of fire safety. The main practical significance of the event which was widely covered in the media space, was the opportunity to share the views and information between management, science, and practice of business on implementing fire protection systems in the conditions of modern economic relations and market realities. : congress, fire protection, systems, technologies, fire protection systems, exhibition

  10. Resolution of USQ regarding source term in the 232-Z Waste Incinerator Building

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Westsik, G.A.

    1995-09-01

    The 232-Z Waste Incinerator at the Hanford Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) was used to incinerate plutonium-bearing combustible materials generated during normal plant operations. Nondestructive (NDA) measurements performed after the incinerator ceased operations indicated high plutonium loadings in exhaust ductwork near the incinerator glovebox, while the incinerator was found to have only low quantities. Measurements, following a campaign to remove some of the ductwork, resulted in markedly higher assay value for the incinerator glovebox itself. Subsequent assays confirmed the most recent results and pointed to a potential further underestimation of the holdup, in part because of attenuation due to fire brick, which could not be seen easily and which had been reported to not be present. NaI detector based measurements were used to map the deposits. Extended count times, using high resolution Ge detectors helped estimate the isotopic composition of the plutonium and quantify the deposits. Experiments were performed using a Ge detector to obtain adequate corrections for the high attenuation of the incinerator glovebox. Several neutron detectors and detector configurations were employed to understand and quantify the neutron flux. Due to the disparity that was anticipated to occur between the gamma ray and neutron assay results, radiation modeling was used to try to reconcile the divergent results. This was a third aspect of the team's effort, utilizing computer modeling to resolve discrepancies between measurement methods

  11. Accelerated weathering of fire-retardant-treated wood for fire testing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert H. White

    2009-01-01

    Fire-retardant-treated products for exterior applications must be subjected to actual or accelerated weathering prior to fire testing. For fire-retardant-treated wood, the two accelerated weathering methods have been Method A and B of ASTM D 2898. The rain test is Method A of ASTM D 2898. Method B includes exposures to ultraviolet (UV) sunlamps in addition to water...

  12. Rx fire laws: tools to protect fire: the `ecological imperative?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dale Wade; Steven Miller; Johnny Stowe; James Brenner

    2006-01-01

    The South is the birthplace of statutes and ordinances that both advocate and protect the cultural heritage of woods burning, which has been practiced in this region uninterrupted for more than 10,000 years. We present a brief overview of fire use in the South and discuss why most southern states recognized early on that periodic fire was necessary to sustain fire...

  13. THE REACTION TO FIRE TEST FOR FIRE RETARDANT AND FOR COMBUSTIBLE MATERIAL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adelaida FANFAROVÁ

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Currently the natural materials become popular building material for houses, buildings and recreational property. The risk of fires in residential timber construction or eco houses cannot be completely ruled out, therefore there is a need for proper and correct implementing preventive measures and application of all available solutions, which may reduce the risk of fire as far as possible, to slow down the combustion process, to protect the life of people, animals and also the building itself until arrival members of the Fire and Rescue Services. Fireproofing of combustible materials is a specific area of fire protection. For scientific research as well as for real-life practice, not only their structural and physical properties, but also fire-technical characteristics are really important. The present researchers mostly focus on fire-retardant treatment of wood that is why the authors of this contribution focused on a different combustible material. This research article presents the experimental testing and examination of the reaction to fire test of the selected thermal insulation of hemp fiber that was impregnated by the selected fire retardant in laboratory conditions.

  14. Wildland Fire Behaviour Case Studies and Fuel Models for Landscape-Scale Fire Modeling

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul-Antoine Santoni

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available This work presents the extension of a physical model for the spreading of surface fire at landscape scale. In previous work, the model was validated at laboratory scale for fire spreading across litters. The model was then modified to consider the structure of actual vegetation and was included in the wildland fire calculation system Forefire that allows converting the two-dimensional model of fire spread to three dimensions, taking into account spatial information. Two wildland fire behavior case studies were elaborated and used as a basis to test the simulator. Both fires were reconstructed, paying attention to the vegetation mapping, fire history, and meteorological data. The local calibration of the simulator required the development of appropriate fuel models for shrubland vegetation (maquis for use with the model of fire spread. This study showed the capabilities of the simulator during the typical drought season characterizing the Mediterranean climate when most wildfires occur.

  15. Forest fires are changing: let’s change the fire management strategy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bovio G

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Forest fires in Italy are changing. More frequent heatwaves and drought increase the flammability of the vegetation; the abandonment of rural land produces 30.000 ha of newly afforested areas each year; and the wildland-urban interface is expanding with the sprawl of urbanized areas. However, forest fires are rarely understood and managed in their complexity. The public opinion is often misinformed on the causes and consequences of fires in the forest. Moreover, fire management relies almost exclusively on extinction and emergency response, resulting in high costs and limited efficacy versus extreme fire seasons. We advocate to increase the role and investments in wildfire prevention, which can be carried out by fuel-oriented silviculture, such as facilitating less flammable species or prescribed burning, in order to reduce the flammability of the vegetation and mitigate fire intensity in high-leverage areas. A centralized structure is necessary to implement such a strategy and coordinate the competences and actions of all local administrations and actors involved.

  16. Discovery Mondays - Men of fire: the fire brigade show their mettle

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    Flashover and backdraught, these technical terms refer to two of the most dangerous phenomena associated with fires. In order to train in dealing with them, in the course of their fire fighting duties the CERN fire brigade use special simulation equipment. The demonstrations are rather spectacular... Thrills are therefore guaranteed at the next Discovery Monday on 2 February! In the course of the evening, you will see fire-fighters demonstrate climbing techniques including abseiling, a method they would have to use to access underground structures on the CERN site in the event of an accident. The accomplished climbers (the Hazardous Environments Response Team) will provide detailed explanations of the rescue techniques and procedures they use in tunnels and hazardous environments. However, the remit of the CERN fire brigade goes well beyond fire-fighting. It ranges from monitoring confined spaces to dealing with flooding and preventing chemical hazards. A wide range of equipment enables them to fulfil thei...

  17. Fire Source Accessibility of Water Mist Fire Suppression Improvement through Flow Method Control

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jung, Jun Ho; Kim, Hyeong Taek; Kim, Yun Jung; Park, Mun Hee [KHNP CRI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-10-15

    Recently, nuclear power plants set CO{sub 2} fire suppression system. However it is hard to establish and to maintain and it also has difficulties performing function test. Therefore, it needs to develop a new fire suppression system to replace the existing CO{sub 2} fire suppression systems in nuclear power plant. In fact, already, there exist alternatives - gas fire suppression system or clean fire extinguishing agent, but it is hard to apply because it requires a highly complicated plan. However, water mist fire suppression system which has both water system and gas system uses small amount of water and droplet, so it is excellent at oxygen displacement and more suitable for nuclear power plant because it can avoid second damage caused by fire fighting water. This paper explains about enclosure effect of water mist fire suppression. And it suggests a study direction about water mist fire source approach improvement and enclosure effect improvement, using flow method control of ventilation system. Water mist fire suppression can be influenced by various variable. And flow and direction of ventilation system are important variable. Expectations of the plan for more fire source ventilation system is as in the following. It enhances enclosure effects of water mists, so it improves extinguish performance. Also the same effect as a inert gas injection causes can be achieved. Lastly, it is considered that combustible accessibility of water mists will increase because of descending air currents.

  18. Factors controlling seedling germination after fire in Mediterranean gorse shrublands. Implications for fire prescription.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Luis, M; Raventós, J; González-Hidalgo, J C

    2005-07-01

    In Western Mediterranean areas, fires are frequent in forests established on old croplands where woody resprouting species are scarce and post-fire regeneration is limited to obligate-seeder species, such as Mediterranean gorse (Ulex parviflorus), that accumulate a great deal of fine dry fuel, increasing the risk of other severe fires. Under these conditions, fuel control techniques are required in order to prevent fires of high intensity and severity and the subsequent economic and ecological damage. Prescribed fires present an alternative to fuel control, and recent studies demonstrate that, under optimum climatic conditions, fire-line intensity values fall within the limits of those recommended for fire prescription. However, a better understanding of the consequences of fire on the regeneration of vegetation is needed in order to evaluate the suitability of prescribed fires as a technique for fuel reduction in Mediterranean gorse ecosystems. This paper analyses the factors controlling seedling germination after fire to make an evaluation from an ecological perspective of whether fire prescription is a suitable technique for fuel control in mature Mediterranean gorse shrublands. The results show that small differences in the composition of vegetation play a decisive role in fire behaviour, and have a decisive influence on the system's capacity for regeneration. Fire severity is low in mixed Mediterranean gorse communities with a low continuity of dead fine fuel (including Cistus sp., Rosmarinus sp., etc.) and fire creates a wide range of microhabitats where seedling emergence is high. In contrast, where U. parviflorus is more dominant, fire severity is higher and the regeneration of vegetation could be hindered. Our conclusions suggest that detailed studies of the composition of plant communities are required in order to decide whether prescribed burning should be applied.

  19. Cinema Fire Modelling by FDS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Glasa, J; Valasek, L; Weisenpacher, P; Halada, L

    2013-01-01

    Recent advances in computer fluid dynamics (CFD) and rapid increase of computational power of current computers have led to the development of CFD models capable to describe fire in complex geometries incorporating a wide variety of physical phenomena related to fire. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) for cinema fire modelling. FDS is an advanced CFD system intended for simulation of the fire and smoke spread and prediction of thermal flows, toxic substances concentrations and other relevant parameters of fire. The course of fire in a cinema hall is described focusing on related safety risks. Fire properties of flammable materials used in the simulation were determined by laboratory measurements and validated by fire tests and computer simulations

  20. Cinema Fire Modelling by FDS

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glasa, J.; Valasek, L.; Weisenpacher, P.; Halada, L.

    2013-02-01

    Recent advances in computer fluid dynamics (CFD) and rapid increase of computational power of current computers have led to the development of CFD models capable to describe fire in complex geometries incorporating a wide variety of physical phenomena related to fire. In this paper, we demonstrate the use of Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS) for cinema fire modelling. FDS is an advanced CFD system intended for simulation of the fire and smoke spread and prediction of thermal flows, toxic substances concentrations and other relevant parameters of fire. The course of fire in a cinema hall is described focusing on related safety risks. Fire properties of flammable materials used in the simulation were determined by laboratory measurements and validated by fire tests and computer simulations

  1. How to generate and interpret fire characteristics charts for surface and crown fire behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patricia L. Andrews; Faith Ann Heinsch; Luke Schelvan

    2011-01-01

    A fire characteristics chart is a graph that presents primary related fire behavior characteristics-rate of spread, flame length, fireline intensity, and heat per unit area. It helps communicate and interpret modeled or observed fire behavior. The Fire Characteristics Chart computer program plots either observed fire behavior or values that have been calculated by...

  2. Aerosol generation from Kerosene fires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jordan, S.; Lindner, W.

    1981-01-01

    The course of solvent surface fires is dependent on the surface area on fire; depth of pool and solvent composition do not influence the fire rate. But the fire rate increases rapidly with the burning area. The residual oxygen concentration after a fire in a closed container is dependent on the violence of the fire, i.e. on the burning surface. Moreover the ending of the fire is influenced by the TBP-concentration of the solvent. With sufficient supply of solvent the TBP-concentration changes only slightly during the fire, so that a fire at 14% O 2 -concentration is extinguished within the container. With the TBP-concentration changing considerably, i.e. little mass, a fire with a similar burning surface is already extinguished at an O 2 -content of 18%. The aerosol generation depends on the fire rate, and so it is higher in free atmosphere than in closed containers. The soot production in the mixture fire (kerosene /TBP 70/30) is higher by a factor 7 than in the pure kerosene fire. Primary soot-particles have a diameter of approximately 0,05 μm and agglomerate rapidly into aggregates of 0,2-0,4 μm. (orig.) [de

  3. Fire safety engineering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, D.N.

    1989-01-01

    The periodic occurrence of large-scale, potentially disastrous industrial accidents involving fire in hazardous environments such as oilwell blowouts, petrochemical explosions and nuclear installations highlights the need for an integrated approach to fire safety engineering. Risk reduction 'by design' and rapid response are of equal importance in the saving of life and property in such situations. This volume of papers covers the subject thoroughly, touching on such topics as hazard analysis, safety design and testing, fire detection and control, and includes studies of fire hazard in the context of environment protection. (author)

  4. Fires, ecological effects of

    Science.gov (United States)

    W. J. Bond; Robert Keane

    2017-01-01

    Fire is both a natural and anthropogenic disturbance influencing the distribution, structure, and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems around the world. Many plants and animals depend on fire for their continued existence. Others species, such as rainforest plants species, are extremely intolerant of burning and need protection from fire. The properties of a fire...

  5. Sodium fires in nuclear facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Menzenhauer, P.

    1974-01-01

    The work deals with the behaviour of liquid sodium when it comes into contact with air, especially in the course of fires in technical plants. The most important fire procedures are constructed as realistically as possible, that is to say that the fires were not only carried out on a laboratory scale but with quantities of up to 200 kg sodium at temperatures of up to 800 0 C. The following was investigated: 1) the course of the fire in rooms, 2) restriction of the fire, 3) removal of the burnt remains, 4) protection measures. The fire was varied in its most important physical appearance such as surface fire, spurt fire and fire on isolated pipe lines. The fires were checked by precautionary, contructive measures - it was not necessary to place persons at the site of the fire - and by active measures such as for example by covering with extinguishing powder. All important test phases were captured in film and slides series. Visible material is thus available for the operation team of sodium plants and fire brigades who might possibly be called upon. (orig./LH) [de

  6. Corrosion and Materials Performance in biomass fired and co-fired power plants

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Montgomery, Melanie; Larsen, OH; Biede, O

    2003-01-01

    not previously encountered in coal-fired power plants. The type of corrosion attack can be directly ascribed to the composition of the deposit and the metal surface temperature. In woodchip boilers, a similar corrosion rate and corrosion mechanism has on some occasions been observed. Co-firing of straw (10...... and 20% energy basis) with coal has shown corrosion rates lower than those in straw-fired plants. With both 10 and 20% straw, no chlorine corrosion was seen. This paper will describe the results from in situ investigations undertaken in Denmark on high temperature corrosion in biomass fired plants....... Results from 100% straw-firing, woodchip and co-firing of straw with coal will be reported. The corrosion mechanisms observed are summarized and the corrosion rates for 18-8 type stainless steels are compared....

  7. WRF-Fire: coupled weather-wildland fire modeling with the weather research and forecasting model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janice L. Coen; Marques Cameron; John Michalakes; Edward G. Patton; Philip J. Riggan; Kara M. Yedinak

    2012-01-01

    A wildland fire behavior module (WRF-Fire) was integrated into the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) public domain numerical weather prediction model. The fire module is a surface fire behavior model that is two-way coupled with the atmospheric model. Near-surface winds from the atmospheric model are interpolated to a finer fire grid and used, with fuel properties...

  8. The economics of fire protection

    CERN Document Server

    Ramachandran, Ganapathy

    2003-01-01

    This important new book, the first of its kind in the fire safety field, discusses the economic problems faced by decision-makers in the areas of fire safety and fire precautions. The author considers the theoretical aspects of cost-benefit analysis and other relevant economic problems with practical applications to fire protection systems. Clear examples are included to illustrate these techniques in action. The work covers: * the performance and effectiveness of passive fire protection measures such as structural fire resistance and means of escape facilities, and active systems such as sprinklers and detectors * the importance of educating for better understanding and implementation of fire prevention through publicity campaigns and fire brigade operations * cost-benefit analysis of fire protection measures and their combinations, taking into account trade-offs between these measures. The book is essential reading for consultants and academics in construction management, economics and fire safety, as well ...

  9. FIRE HAZARDS ANALYSIS - BUSTED BUTTE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Longwell, R.; Keifer, J.; Goodin, S.

    2001-01-01

    The purpose of this fire hazards analysis (FHA) is to assess the risk from fire within individual fire areas at the Busted Butte Test Facility and to ascertain whether the DOE fire safety objectives are met. The objective, identified in DOE Order 420.1, Section 4.2, is to establish requirements for a comprehensive fire and related hazards protection program for facilities sufficient to minimize the potential for: (1) The occurrence of a fire related event. (2) A fire that causes an unacceptable on-site or off-site release of hazardous or radiological material that will threaten the health and safety of employees. (3) Vital DOE programs suffering unacceptable interruptions as a result of fire and related hazards. (4) Property losses from a fire and related events exceeding limits established by DOE. Critical process controls and safety class systems being damaged as a result of a fire and related events

  10. Subsurface Fire Hazards Technical Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Logan, R.C.

    1999-01-01

    The results from this report are preliminary and cannot be used as input into documents supporting procurement, fabrication, or construction. This technical report identifies fire hazards and proposes their mitigation for the subsurface repository fire protection system. The proposed mitigation establishes the minimum level of fire protection to meet NRC regulations, DOE fire protection orders, that ensure fire containment, adequate life safety provisions, and minimize property loss. Equipment requiring automatic fire suppression systems is identified. The subsurface fire hazards that are identified can be adequately mitigated

  11. Star Formation in Merging Galaxies Using FIRE

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez, Adrianna; Hung, Chao-Ling; Naiman, Jill; Moreno, Jorge; Hopkins, Philip

    2018-01-01

    Galaxy interactions and mergers are efficient mechanisms to birth stars at rates that are significantly higher than found in our Milky Way galaxy. The Kennicut-Schmidt (KS) relation is an empirical relationship between the star-forming rate and gas surface densities of galaxies (Schmidt 1959; Kennicutt 1998). Although most galaxies follow the KS relation, the high levels of star formation in galaxy mergers places them outside of this otherwise tight relationship. The goal of this research is to analyze the gas content and star formation of simulated merging galaxies. Our work utilizes the Feedback In Realistic Environments (FIRE) model (Hopkins et al., 2014). The FIRE project is a high-resolution cosmological simulation that resolves star-forming regions and incorporates stellar feedback in a physically realistic way. In this work, we have noticed a significant increase in the star formation rate at first and second passage, when the two black holes of each galaxy approach one other. Next, we will analyze spatially resolved star-forming regions over the course of the interacting system. Then, we can study when and how the rates that gas converts into stars deviate from the standard KS. These analyses will provide important insights into the physical mechanisms that regulate star formation of normal and merging galaxies and valuable theoretical predictions that can be used to compare with current and future observations from ALMA or the James Webb Space Telescope.

  12. Using the Large Fire Simulator System to map wildland fire potential for the conterminous United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    LaWen Hollingsworth; James Menakis

    2010-01-01

    This project mapped wildland fire potential (WFP) for the conterminous United States by using the large fire simulation system developed for Fire Program Analysis (FPA) System. The large fire simulation system, referred to here as LFSim, consists of modules for weather generation, fire occurrence, fire suppression, and fire growth modeling. Weather was generated with...

  13. WRF-Fire Applied in Bulgaria

    OpenAIRE

    Dobrinkova, Nina; Jordanov, Georgi; Mandel, Jan

    2010-01-01

    WRF-Fire consists of the WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting Model) coupled with a fire spread model, based on the level-set method. We describe a preliminary application of WRF-Fire to a forest fire in Bulgaria, oportunities for research of forest fire models for Bulgaria, and plans for the development of an Environmental Decision Support Systems which includes computational modeling of fire behavior.

  14. The fire brigade renovates

    CERN Multimedia

    2002-01-01

    The new fire engine at CERN's Fire Station. A shiny brand-new fire engine is now attracting all the attention of the members of CERN's fire brigade. Since the beginning of last week this engine has taken over from an 18-year-old one, which has now been 'retired' from service. This modern vehicle, built in Brescia, Italy, is much lighter and more powerful than the old one and is equipped to allow the fire service to tackle most call-outs without the support of at least one other vehicle, as is currently necessary. The new fire engine is designed to transport six fire-fighters, 2000 litres of water, and is equipped not only for fire fighting actions but also to respond initially to any other kind of call-out, such as traffic accidents, chemical incidents, pollution, lightning, etc. It goes almost without saying that it is provided with the most modern safety measures, a low centre of gravity, as well as a special chassis and a combination pump (low and high pressure), which improve the safety and performance ...

  15. Lessons learned from the fire test of Westinghouse's new type AF package, the traveller: (nothing like the real thing)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malloy, J.; Hempy, B.; Utlak, R.; Kent, N.

    2004-01-01

    Satisfying the thermal test requirements is a significant part of licensing a Type AF package. Regulations allow the thermal test requirements to be satisfied by several means including thermal analysis, thermal test inside a furnace, pool fire test, test using a scale model of the package, test using a segment or portion of a package, or test using a full-scale package. It was decided that a pool fire test using a full-scale package was the only way to adequately test the many features of the Traveller. Items crucial to criticality safety are more subject to damage during the thermal test. The Traveller design includes a substantial amount of neutron moderating material built into the packaging. This is so that criticality safety would not be dependent on moderation by HAC immersion. A full-scale fire test proved to be the only method to verify that the moderator survives. The Traveller also features a unique impact limiter system inside the packaging that is designed to lessen the impact of the contents in an end drop. It was determined that the full-scale fire test would be the only way to verify that the limiters would not ignite and burn inside the package. Actual pool fire temperatures are more severe than the 800 C minimum required in the regulations. Also it is impossible to model distortions and stresses caused by an actual fire, and these have a significant impact on any thermal analysis. This paper describes the many exploratory and scoping tests that preceded the final fire tes t. The lessons learned, though perhaps not new to those regularly employed in the fire testing profession, proved to be valuable to the licensee in completing the Traveller design

  16. Fire analog: a comparison between fire plumes and energy center cooling tower plumes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Orgill, M.M.

    1977-10-01

    Thermal plumes or convection columns associated with large fires are compared to thermal plumes from cooling towers and proposed energy centers to evaluate the fire analog concept. Energy release rates of mass fires are generally larger than for single or small groups of cooling towers but are comparable to proposed large energy centers. However, significant physical differences exist between cooling tower plumes and fire plumes. Cooling tower plumes are generally dominated by ambient wind, stability and turbulence conditions. Fire plumes, depending on burning rates and other factors, can transform into convective columns which may cause the fire behavior to become more violent. This transformation can cause strong inflow winds and updrafts, turbulence and concentrated vortices. Intense convective columns may interact with ambient winds to create significant downwind effects such as wakes and Karman vortex streets. These characteristics have not been observed with cooling tower plumes to date. The differences in physical characteristics between cooling tower and fire plumes makes the fire analog concept very questionable even though the approximate energy requirements appear to be satisfied in case of large energy centers. Additional research is suggested in studying the upper-level plume characteristics of small experimental fires so this information can be correlated with similar data from cooling towers. Numerical simulation of fires and proposed multiple cooling tower systems could also provide comparative data.

  17. Specialists' meeting on sodium fires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kozlov, F.A.; Kuznetsova, R.I.

    1989-01-01

    The four sessions of the meeting covered the following topics: 1. general approach to fast reactor safety, standards of fire safety, maximum design basis accidents for sodium leaks and fires, status of sodium fires in different countries; 2. physical and chemical processes during combustion of sodium and its interaction with structural and technological materials and methods for structural protection; 3. methods of sodium fires extinguishing and measures for localizing aerosol combustion products, organization of fire fighting procedures, instruction and training of fire personnel; 4. elimination of the consequences of sodium fires

  18. Specialists' meeting on sodium fires

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kozlov, F A; Kuznetsova, R I [eds.

    1989-07-01

    The four sessions of the meeting covered the following topics: 1. general approach to fast reactor safety, standards of fire safety, maximum design basis accidents for sodium leaks and fires, status of sodium fires in different countries; 2. physical and chemical processes during combustion of sodium and its interaction with structural and technological materials and methods for structural protection; 3. methods of sodium fires extinguishing and measures for localizing aerosol combustion products, organization of fire fighting procedures, instruction and training of fire personnel; 4. elimination of the consequences of sodium fires.

  19. Cable fire tests in France

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaercher, M.

    2000-01-01

    Modifications are being carried out in all French nuclear power plants to improve fire safety. These modifications are based on a three level defense in depth concept: fire preventing, fire containing and fire controlling. Fire containing requires many modifications such as protection of cable races and assessment of fire propagation which both need R and D development. On one hand, cable wraps made with mineral wool were tested in all configurations including effect of aging, overheating and fire and qualified for the use as protection from common failure modes. On the other hand, cables races in scale one were subject to gas burner or solvent pool fire to simulate ignition and fire propagation between trays and flash over situations. These tests have been performed under several typical lay out conditions. The results of the tests can be used as input data in computer modelling for validation of fire protection measures. (orig.) [de

  20. Enhancing fire science exchange: The Joint Fire Science Program's National Network of Knowledge Exchange Consortia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vita Wright; Crystal Kolden; Todd Kipfer; Kristine Lee; Adrian Leighton; Jim Riddering; Leana Schelvan

    2011-01-01

    The Northern Rocky Mountain region is one of the most fire-prone regions in the United States. With a history of large fires that have shaped national policy, including the fires of 1910 and 2000 in Idaho and Montana and the Yellowstone fires of 1988, this region is projected to have many large severe fires in the future. Communication about fire science needs and...

  1. Fire as Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rudolph, Robert N.

    2011-01-01

    In this article, the author describes a project that deals with fire production as an aspect of technology. The project challenges students to be survivors in a five-day classroom activity. Students research various materials and methods to produce fire without the use of matches or other modern combustion devices, then must create "fire" to keep…

  2. Modelling Variable Fire Severity in Boreal Forests: Effects of Fire Intensity and Stand Structure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miquelajauregui, Yosune; Cumming, Steven G; Gauthier, Sylvie

    2016-01-01

    It is becoming clear that fires in boreal forests are not uniformly stand-replacing. On the contrary, marked variation in fire severity, measured as tree mortality, has been found both within and among individual fires. It is important to understand the conditions under which this variation can arise. We integrated forest sample plot data, tree allometries and historical forest fire records within a diameter class-structured model of 1.0 ha patches of mono-specific black spruce and jack pine stands in northern Québec, Canada. The model accounts for crown fire initiation and vertical spread into the canopy. It uses empirical relations between fire intensity, scorch height, the percent of crown scorched and tree mortality to simulate fire severity, specifically the percent reduction in patch basal area due to fire-caused mortality. A random forest and a regression tree analysis of a large random sample of simulated fires were used to test for an effect of fireline intensity, stand structure, species composition and pyrogeographic regions on resultant severity. Severity increased with intensity and was lower for jack pine stands. The proportion of simulated fires that burned at high severity (e.g. >75% reduction in patch basal area) was 0.80 for black spruce and 0.11 for jack pine. We identified thresholds in intensity below which there was a marked sensitivity of simulated fire severity to stand structure, and to interactions between intensity and structure. We found no evidence for a residual effect of pyrogeographic region on simulated severity, after the effects of stand structure and species composition were accounted for. The model presented here was able to produce variation in fire severity under a range of fire intensity conditions. This suggests that variation in stand structure is one of the factors causing the observed variation in boreal fire severity.

  3. Underground Coal-Fires in Xinjiang, China: A Continued Effort in Applying Geophysics to Solve a Local Problem and to Mitigate a Global Hazard

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wuttke, M. W.; Halisch, M.; Tanner, D. C.; Cai, Z. Y.; Zeng, Q.; Wang, C.

    2012-04-01

    Spontaneous uncontrolled coal seam fires are a well known phenomenon that causes severe environmental problems and severe impact on natural coal reserves. Coal fires are a worldwide phenomenon, but in particular in Xinjiang, that covers 17.3 % of Chinas area and hosts approx 42 % of its coal resources. In Xinjiang since more than 50 years a rigorous strategy for fire fighting on local and regional scale is persued. The Xinjiang Coalfield Fire Fighting Bureau (FFB) has developed technologies and methods to deal with any known fire. Many fires have been extinguished already, but the problem is still there if not even growing. This problem is not only a problem for China due to the loss of valuable energy resources, but it is also a worldwide threat because of the generation of substantial amounts of greenhouse gases. Through the FFB, China is struggling to overcome this, but the activities could be much enhanced by the continuation of the already successful conjoint operations. The last ten years have seen two successful cooperative projects between China and Germany on the field of coal-fire fighting, namely the German Technical Cooperation Project on Coal Fire in Xinjiang and the Sino-German Coal Fire Research Initiative funded by the corresponding ministeries of both countries. A persistent task in the fire fighting is the identification and supervision of areas with higher risks for the ignition of coal fires, the exploration of already ignited fire zones to extinguish the fires and the monitoring of extinguished fires to detect as early as possible process that may foster re-ignition. This can be achieved by modeling both the structures and the processes that are involved. This has also been a promising part of the past cooperation projects, yet to be transformed into a standard application of fire fighting procedures. In this contribution we describe the plans for a new conjoint project between China and Germany where on the basis of field investigations and

  4. Fires of sodium installations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hajek, L.; Tlalka, R.

    1984-01-01

    A survey is presented of the literature dealing with fires of sodium installations between 1974 and 1981. Also described are three experimental fires of ca 50 kg of sodium in an open area, monitored by UJV Rez. The experimental conditions of the experiments are described and a phenomenological description is presented of the course of the fires. The experiments showed a relationship between wind velocity in the area surrounding the fire and surface temperature of the sodium flame. Systems analysis methods were applied to sodium area, spray and tube fires. (author)

  5. Fire Protection Program Manual

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sharry, J A

    2012-05-18

    This manual documents the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) Fire Protection Program. Department of Energy (DOE) Orders 420.1B, Facility Safety, requires LLNL to have a comprehensive and effective fire protection program that protects LLNL personnel and property, the public and the environment. The manual provides LLNL and its facilities with general information and guidance for meeting DOE 420.1B requirements. The recommended readers for this manual are: fire protection officers, fire protection engineers, fire fighters, facility managers, directorage assurance managers, facility coordinators, and ES and H team members.

  6. Preparing valuable hydrocarbons by hydrogenation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pier, M

    1930-08-22

    A process is described for the preparation of valuable hydrocarbons by treatment of carbonaceous materials, like coal, tars, minerals oils, and their distillation and conversion products, and for refining of liquid hydrocarbon mixture obtained at raised temperature and under pressure, preferably in the presence of catalysts, by the use of hydrogen-containing gases, purified and obtained by distilling solid combustibles, characterized by the purification of the hydrogen-containing gases being accomplished for the purpose of practically complete removal of the oxygen by heating at ordinary or higher pressure in the presence of a catalyst containing silver and oxides of metals of group VI of the periodic system.

  7. Econometric analysis of fire suppression production functions for large wildland fires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas P. Holmes; David E. Calkin

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we use operational data collected for large wildland fires to estimate the parameters of economic production functions that relate the rate of fireline construction with the level of fire suppression inputs (handcrews, dozers, engines and helicopters). These parameter estimates are then used to evaluate whether the productivity of fire suppression inputs...

  8. Fire simulation of pool fire with effects of a ventilation controlled compartment by using a fire model, CFAST

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hattori, Yasuo; Suto, Hitoshi; Shirai, Koji; Eguchi, Yuzuru; Matsuyama, Ken

    2015-01-01

    The basic performance for numerical analysis of fire parameters in a compartment by using a zone model, CFAST (Consolidated model of Fire growth And Smoke Transport), which has been widely applied for fire protection design of buildings, was examined. Special attentions were paid to the effects of compartment geometry under poor ventilation conditions with mechanical systems. The simulations were carried out under conditions corresponding to previous experiments, in which fire parameters have been precisely measured. The comparison between numerical simulations and experiments indicated that the CFAST principally has a capability to represent the time-histories of air-temperature in the high air-temperature layer generated in the vicinity of ceiling of the compartment, by applying the proper boundary conditions. These results suggest that numerical analysis for time-series of air temperature and smoke concentration in compartments must be a powerful tool for discussion on validity of fire protection schemes. (author)

  9. Fire in the Earth system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowman, David M J S; Balch, Jennifer K; Artaxo, Paulo; Bond, William J; Carlson, Jean M; Cochrane, Mark A; D'Antonio, Carla M; Defries, Ruth S; Doyle, John C; Harrison, Sandy P; Johnston, Fay H; Keeley, Jon E; Krawchuk, Meg A; Kull, Christian A; Marston, J Brad; Moritz, Max A; Prentice, I Colin; Roos, Christopher I; Scott, Andrew C; Swetnam, Thomas W; van der Werf, Guido R; Pyne, Stephen J

    2009-04-24

    Fire is a worldwide phenomenon that appears in the geological record soon after the appearance of terrestrial plants. Fire influences global ecosystem patterns and processes, including vegetation distribution and structure, the carbon cycle, and climate. Although humans and fire have always coexisted, our capacity to manage fire remains imperfect and may become more difficult in the future as climate change alters fire regimes. This risk is difficult to assess, however, because fires are still poorly represented in global models. Here, we discuss some of the most important issues involved in developing a better understanding of the role of fire in the Earth system.

  10. Post-fire regeneration in a Mediterranean pine forest with historically low fire frequency

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buhk, Constanze; Götzenberger, Lars; Wesche, Karsten; Gómez, Pedro Sánchez; Hensen, Isabell

    2006-11-01

    Species of Mediterranean vegetation are known to regenerate directly after fire. The phenomenon of autosuccession (direct regeneration) has been found to be often combined with an increase of species richness during the first years after fire due to the high abundance of short-lived herbaceous plants facilitated by plentiful nutrients and light. The high degree of vegetation resilience, which is expressed in terms of autosuccession, has been explained by the selective pressure of fire in historic times. According to existing palaeoecological data, however, the Pinus halepensis forests in the Ricote Mountains (Province of Murcia, SE Spain) did not experience substantial fire impact before the presence of man nor are they especially fire-prone today. Therefore, we studied post-fire regeneration to find out if direct succession is present or if species from pre-fire vegetation are absent during the post-fire regeneration stages. Patterns of succession were deduced from observations made in sample plots on sites of a known regeneration age as well as in adjacent unburnt areas. The results of the vegetation analyses, including a Detrended Correspondence Analysis, indicate that Pinus halepensis forest regeneration after fire resembles autosuccession. As regards the presence of woody species, there is a high percentage similarity on north (83%) and south (70%) facing slopes during the first year after fire vs. reference areas which is due, for example, to direct regeneration of the resprouting Quercus coccifera or seeders like Pinus halepensis or Fumana laevipes. However, if herbaceous species are included in the comparison, the similarity on north-facing sites decreases (to 53%) with the presence of additional species, mainly ruderals like Anagallis arvensis or Reseda phyteuma, and even woody species on the burnt plots. This effect indicates "enhanced autosuccession", which was not found on south-facing sites where overall species richness was very high irrespective of

  11. Forest fires and lightning activity during the outstanding 2003 and 2005 fire seasons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russo, Ana; Ramos, Alexandre; Trigo, Ricardo

    2013-04-01

    Wildfires in southern Europe cause frequent extensive economical and ecological losses and, even human casualties. Comparatively to other Mediterranean countries, Portugal is the country with more burnt area and fires per unit area in the last decade, mainly during the summer season (Pereira et al., 2011). According to the fire records available, between 1980 and 2009, wildfires have affected over 3 million hectares in Portugal (JRC, 2011), which corresponds to approximately a third of the Portuguese Continental territory. The main factors that influence fire ignition and propagation are: (1) the presence of fuel (i.e. vegetation); (2) climate and weather; (3) socioeconomic conditions that affect land use/land cover patterns, fire-prevention and fire-fighting capacity and (4) topography. Specifically, weather (e.g. wind, temperature, precipitation, humidity, and lightning occurrence) plays an important role in fire behavior, affecting both ignition and spread of wildfires. Some countries have a relatively large fraction of fires caused by lightning, e.g. northwestern USA, Canada, Russia (). In contrast, Portugal has only a small percentage of fire records caused by lightning. Although significant doubts remain for the majority of fires in the catalog since they were cataloged without a likely cause. The recent years of 2003 and 2005 were particularly outstanding for fire activity in Portugal, registering, respectively, total burned areas of 425 726 ha and 338 262 ha. However, while the 2003 was triggered by an exceptional heatwave that struck the entire western Europe, the 2005 fire season registered was coincident with one of the most severe droughts of the 20th century. In this work we have used mainly two different databases: 1) the Portuguese Rural Fire Database (PRFD) which is representative of rural fires that have occurred in Continental Portugal, 2001-2011, with the original data provided by the Autoridade Florestal Nacional (AFN, 2011); 2) lightning

  12. Analysis of sodium pool fire in SFEF for assessing the limiting pool fire

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mangarjuna Rao, P.; Ramesh, S.S.; Nashine, B.K.; Kasinathan, N.; Chellapandi, P.

    2011-01-01

    Accidental sodium leaks and resultant sodium fires in Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor (LMFBR) systems can create a threat to the safe operation of the plant. To avoid this defence-in depth approach is implemented from the design stage of reactor itself. Rapid detection of sodium leak and fast dumping of the sodium into the storage tank of a defective circuit, leak collection trays, adequate lining of load bearing structural concrete and extinguishment of the sodium fire are the important defensive measures in the design, construction and operation of a LMFBR for protection against sodium leaks and their resultant fires. Evaluation of sodium leak events and their consequences by conducting large scale engineering experiments is very essential for effective implementation of the above protection measures for sodium fire safety. For this purpose a Sodium Fire Experimental Facility (SFEF) is constructed at SED, IGCAR. SFEF is having an experimental hall of size 9 m x 6 m x 10 m with 540 m 3 volume and its design pressure is 50 kPa. It is a concrete structure and provided with SS 304 liner, which is fixed to the inside surfaces of walls, ceiling and floor. A leak tight door of size (1.8 m x 2.0 m) is provided to the experimental hall and the facility is provided with a sodium equipment hall and a control room. Experimental evaluation of sodium pool fire consequences is an important activity in the LMFBR sodium fire safety related studies. An experimental program has been planned for different types of sodium fire studies in SFEF. A prior to that numerical analysis have been carried out for enclosed sodium pool fires using SOFIRE-II sodium pool fire code for SFEF experimental hall configuration to evaluate the limiting pool fire. This paper brings out results of the analysis carried out for this purpose. Limiting pool fire of SFEF depends on the exposed surface area of the pool, amount of sodium in the pool, oxygen concentration and initial sodium temperature. Limiting

  13. Fire management in central America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andrea L. Koonce; Armando González-Cabán

    1992-01-01

    Information on fire management operations in Central America is scant. To evaluate the known level of fire occurrence in seven countries in that area, fire management officers were asked to provide information on their fire control organizations and on any available fire statistics. The seven countries surveyed were Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua,...

  14. Spatial and temporal corroboration of a fire-scar-based fire history in a frequently burned ponderosa pine forest.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farris, Calvin A; Baisan, Christopher H; Falk, Donald A; Yool, Stephen R; Swetnam, Thomas W

    2010-09-01

    Fire scars are used widely to reconstruct historical fire regime parameters in forests around the world. Because fire scars provide incomplete records of past fire occurrence at discrete points in space, inferences must be made to reconstruct fire frequency and extent across landscapes using spatial networks of fire-scar samples. Assessing the relative accuracy of fire-scar fire history reconstructions has been hampered due to a lack of empirical comparisons with independent fire history data sources. We carried out such a comparison in a 2780-ha ponderosa pine forest on Mica Mountain in southern Arizona (USA) for the time period 1937-2000. Using documentary records of fire perimeter maps and ignition locations, we compared reconstructions of key spatial and temporal fire regime parameters developed from documentary fire maps and independently collected fire-scar data (n = 60 plots). We found that fire-scar data provided spatially representative and complete inventories of all major fire years (> 100 ha) in the study area but failed to detect most small fires. There was a strong linear relationship between the percentage of samples recording fire scars in a given year (i.e., fire-scar synchrony) and total area burned for that year (y = 0.0003x + 0.0087, r2 = 0.96). There was also strong spatial coherence between cumulative fire frequency maps interpolated from fire-scar data and ground-mapped fire perimeters. Widely reported fire frequency summary statistics varied little between fire history data sets: fire-scar natural fire rotations (NFR) differed by or = 25% of study area burned) were identical between data sets (25.5 yr); fire-scar MFIs for all fire years differed by 1.2 yr from documentary records. The known seasonal timing of past fires based on documentary records was furthermore reconstructed accurately by observing intra-annual ring position of fire scars and using knowledge of tree-ring growth phenology in the Southwest. Our results demonstrate clearly

  15. Fire regime in Mediterranean ecosystem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biondi, Guido; Casula, Paolo; D'Andrea, Mirko; Fiorucci, Paolo

    2010-05-01

    The analysis of burnt areas time series in Mediterranean regions suggests that ecosystems characterising this area consist primarily of species highly vulnerable to the fire but highly resilient, as characterized by a significant regenerative capacity after the fire spreading. In a few years the area burnt may once again be covered by the same vegetation present before the fire. Similarly, Mediterranean conifer forests, which often refers to plantations made in order to reforest the areas most severely degraded with high erosion risk, regenerate from seed after the fire resulting in high resilience to the fire as well. Only rarely, and usually with negligible damages, fire affects the areas covered by climax species in relation with altitude and soil types (i.e, quercus, fagus, abies). On the basis of these results, this paper shows how the simple Drossel-Schwabl forest fire model is able to reproduce the forest fire regime in terms of number of fires and burned area, describing whit good accuracy the actual fire perimeters. The original Drossel-Schwabl model has been slightly modified in this work by introducing two parameters (probability of propagation and regrowth) specific for each different class of vegetation cover. Using model selection methods based on AIC, the model with the optimal number of classes with different fire behaviour was selected. Two different case studies are presented in this work: Regione Liguria and Regione Sardegna (Italy). Both regions are situated in the center of the Mediterranean and are characterized by a high number of fires and burned area. However, the two regions have very different fire regimes. Sardinia is affected by the fire phenomenon only in summer whilst Liguria is affected by fires also in winter, with higher number of fires and larger burned area. In addition, the two region are very different in vegetation cover. The presence of Mediterranean conifers, (Pinus Pinaster, Pinus Nigra, Pinus halepensis) is quite spread in

  16. Measuring fire size in tunnels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo, Xiaoping; Zhang, Qihui

    2013-01-01

    A new measure of fire size Q′ has been introduced in longitudinally ventilated tunnel as the ratio of flame height to the height of tunnel. The analysis in this article has shown that Q′ controls both the critical velocity and the maximum ceiling temperature in the tunnel. Before the fire flame reaches tunnel ceiling (Q′ 1.0), Fr approaches a constant value. This is also a well-known phenomenon in large tunnel fires. Tunnel ceiling temperature shows the opposite trend. Before the fire flame reaches the ceiling, it increases very slowly with the fire size. Once the flame has hit the ceiling of tunnel, temperature rises rapidly with Q′. The good agreement between the current prediction and three different sets of experimental data has demonstrated that the theory has correctly modelled the relation among the heat release rate of fire, ventilation flow and the height of tunnel. From design point of view, the theoretical maximum of critical velocity for a given tunnel can help to prevent oversized ventilation system. -- Highlights: • Fire sizing is an important safety measure in tunnel design. • New measure of fire size a function of HRR of fire, tunnel height and ventilation. • The measure can identify large and small fires. • The characteristics of different fire are consistent with observation in real fires

  17. Little Bear Fire Summary Report

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarah McCaffrey; Melanie Stidham; Hannah. Brenkert-Smith

    2013-01-01

    In June 2012, immediately after the Little Bear Fire burned outside Ruidoso, New Mexico, a team of researchers interviewed fire managers, local personnel, and residents to understand perceptions of the event itself, communication, evacuation, and pre-fire preparedness. The intensity of fire behavior and resulting loss of 242 homes made this a complex fire with a...

  18. Mapping the Daily Progression of Large Wildland Fires Using MODIS Active Fire Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veraverbeke, Sander; Sedano, Fernando; Hook, Simon J.; Randerson, James T.; Jin, Yufang; Rogers, Brendan

    2013-01-01

    High temporal resolution information on burned area is a prerequisite for incorporating bottom-up estimates of wildland fire emissions in regional air transport models and for improving models of fire behavior. We used the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active fire product (MO(Y)D14) as input to a kriging interpolation to derive continuous maps of the evolution of nine large wildland fires. For each fire, local input parameters for the kriging model were defined using variogram analysis. The accuracy of the kriging model was assessed using high resolution daily fire perimeter data available from the U.S. Forest Service. We also assessed the temporal reporting accuracy of the MODIS burned area products (MCD45A1 and MCD64A1). Averaged over the nine fires, the kriging method correctly mapped 73% of the pixels within the accuracy of a single day, compared to 33% for MCD45A1 and 53% for MCD64A1.

  19. Sodium fire protection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raju, C.; Kale, R.D.

    1979-01-01

    Results of experiments carried out with sodium fires to develop extinguishment techniques are presented. Characteristics, ignition temperature, heat evolution and other aspects of sodium fires are described. Out of the powders tested for extinguishment of 10 Kg sodium fires, sodium bi-carbonate based dry chemical powder has been found to be the best extinguisher followed by large sized vermiculite and then calcium carbonate powders distributed by spray nozzles. Powders, however, do not extinguish large fires effectively due to sodium-concrete reaction. To control large scale fires in a LMFBR, collection trays with protective cover have been found to cause oxygen starvation better than flooding with inert gas. This system has an added advantage in that there is no damage to the sodium facilities as has been in the case of powders which often contain chlorine compounds and cause stress corrosion cracking. (M.G.B.)

  20. The Joint Fire Science Program Fire Exchange Network: Facilitating Knowledge Exchange About Wildland Fire Science Across the U.S.

    Science.gov (United States)

    York, A.; Blocksome, C.; Cheng, T.; Creighton, J.; Edwards, G.; Frederick, S.; Giardina, C. P.; Goebel, P. C.; Gucker, C.; Kobziar, L.; Lane, E.; Leis, S.; Long, A.; Maier, C.; Marschall, J.; McGowan-Stinski, J.; Mohr, H.; MontBlanc, E.; Pellant, M.; Pickett, E.; Seesholtz, D.; Skowronski, N.; Stambaugh, M. C.; Stephens, S.; Thode, A.; Trainor, S. F.; Waldrop, T.; Wolfson, B.; Wright, V.; Zedler, P.

    2014-12-01

    The Joint Fire Science Program's (JFSP) Fire Exchange Network is actively working to accelerate the awareness, understanding, and adoption of wildland fire science information by federal, tribal, state, local, and private stakeholders within ecologically similar regions. Our network of 15 regional exchanges provides timely, accurate, and regionally relevant science-based information to assist with fire management challenges. Regional activities, through which we engage fire and resource managers, scientists, and private landowners, include online newsletters and announcements, social media, regionally focused web-based clearinghouses of relevant science, field trips and demonstration sites, workshops and conferences, webinars and online training, and syntheses and fact sheets. Exchanges also help investigators design research that is relevant to regional management needs and assist with technology transfer to management audiences. This poster provides an introduction to and map of the regional exchanges.

  1. Fire Protection Program fiscal year 1996, site support program plan Hanford Fire Department. Revision 2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Good, D.E.

    1995-09-01

    The mission of the Hanford Fire Department (HFD) is to support the safe and timely cleanup of the Hanford site by providing fire suppression, fire prevention, emergency rescue, emergency medical service, and hazardous materials response; and to be capable of dealing with and terminating emergency situations which could threaten the operations, employees, or interest of the US Department of Energy operated Hanford Site. This includes response to surrounding fire departments/districts under a mutual aid agreement and contractual fire fighting, hazardous materials, and ambulance support to Washington Public Power Supply System (Supply System). The fire department also provides site fire marshal overview authority, fire system testing and maintenance, self-contained breathing apparatus maintenance, building tours and inspections, ignitable and reactive waste site inspections, prefire planning, and employee fire prevention education. This report gives a program overview, technical program baselines, and cost and schedule baseline

  2. Severe fire weather and intensive forest management increase fire severity in a multi-ownership landscape.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zald, Harold S J; Dunn, Christopher J

    2018-04-26

    Many studies have examined how fuels, topography, climate, and fire weather influence fire severity. Less is known about how different forest management practices influence fire severity in multi-owner landscapes, despite costly and controversial suppression of wildfires that do not acknowledge ownership boundaries. In 2013, the Douglas Complex burned over 19,000 ha of Oregon & California Railroad (O&C) lands in Southwestern Oregon, USA. O&C lands are composed of a checkerboard of private industrial and federal forestland (Bureau of Land Management, BLM) with contrasting management objectives, providing a unique experimental landscape to understand how different management practices influence wildfire severity. Leveraging Landsat based estimates of fire severity (Relative differenced Normalized Burn Ratio, RdNBR) and geospatial data on fire progression, weather, topography, pre-fire forest conditions, and land ownership, we asked (1) what is the relative importance of different variables driving fire severity, and (2) is intensive plantation forestry associated with higher fire severity? Using Random Forest ensemble machine learning, we found daily fire weather was the most important predictor of fire severity, followed by stand age and ownership, followed by topographic features. Estimates of pre-fire forest biomass were not an important predictor of fire severity. Adjusting for all other predictor variables in a general least squares model incorporating spatial autocorrelation, mean predicted RdNBR was higher on private industrial forests (RdNBR 521.85 ± 18.67 [mean ± SE]) vs. BLM forests (398.87 ± 18.23) with a much greater proportion of older forests. Our findings suggest intensive plantation forestry characterized by young forests and spatially homogenized fuels, rather than pre-fire biomass, were significant drivers of wildfire severity. This has implications for perceptions of wildfire risk, shared fire management responsibilities, and developing

  3. Fire fighting at Chernobyl and fire protection at UK nuclear power stations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bindon, F.J.L.

    1987-01-01

    The fire fighting measures undertaken by the fire crews at the Chernobyl reactor accident are described. This information highlights the need to develop engineering equipment which will give a far greater degree of personnel protection to fire crews and others in radiological accidents. The British position on fire protection at nuclear power stations is outlined. The general levels of radiation exposure which would be used as a guide to persons in the vicinity of a radiation accident are also given. (UK)

  4. High-fire-risk behavior in critical fire areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    William S. Folkman

    1977-01-01

    Observations of fire-related behavior of wildland visitors were made in three types of areas-wilderness, established campground, and built-up commercial and residential areas-within the San Bernardino National Forest, California. Interviews were conducted with all persons so observed. Types of fire-related behavior differed markedly from one area to another, as did the...

  5. Fire management strategies to maintain species population processes in a fragmented landscape of fire-interval extremes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tulloch, Ayesha I T; Pichancourt, Jean-Baptiste; Gosper, Carl R; Sanders, Angela; Chadès, Iadine

    2016-10-01

    Changed fire regimes have led to declines of fire-regime-adapted species and loss of biodiversity globally. Fire affects population processes of growth, reproduction, and dispersal in different ways, but there is little guidance about the best fire regime(s) to maintain species population processes in fire-prone ecosystems. We use a process-based approach to determine the best range of fire intervals for keystone plant species in a highly modified Mediterranean ecosystem in southwestern Australia where current fire regimes vary. In highly fragmented areas, fires are few due to limited ignitions and active suppression of wildfire on private land, while in highly connected protected areas fires are frequent and extensive. Using matrix population models, we predict population growth of seven Banksia species under different environmental conditions and patch connectivity, and evaluate the sensitivity of species survival to different fire management strategies and burning intervals. We discover that contrasting, complementary patterns of species life-histories with time since fire result in no single best fire regime. All strategies result in the local patch extinction of at least one species. A small number of burning strategies secure complementary species sets depending on connectivity and post-fire growing conditions. A strategy of no fire always leads to fewer species persisting than prescribed fire or random wildfire, while too-frequent or too-rare burning regimes lead to the possible local extinction of all species. In low landscape connectivity, we find a smaller range of suitable fire intervals, and strategies of prescribed or random burning result in a lower number of species with positive growth rates after 100 years on average compared with burning high connectivity patches. Prescribed fire may reduce or increase extinction risk when applied in combination with wildfire depending on patch connectivity. Poor growing conditions result in a significantly

  6. Assessing European wild fire vulnerability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oehler, F.; Oliveira, S.; Barredo, J. I.; Camia, A.; Ayanz, J. San Miguel; Pettenella, D.; Mavsar, R.

    2012-04-01

    Wild fire vulnerability is a measure of potential socio-economic damage caused by a fire in a specific area. As such it is an important component of long-term fire risk management, helping policy-makers take informed decisions about adequate expenditures for fire prevention and suppression, and to target those regions at highest risk. This paper presents a first approach to assess wild fire vulnerability at the European level. A conservative approach was chosen that assesses the cost of restoring the previous land cover after a potential fire. Based on the CORINE Land Cover, a restoration cost was established for each land cover class at country level, and an average restoration time was assigned according to the recovery capacity of the land cover. The damage caused by fire was then assessed by discounting the cost of restoring the previous land cover over the restoration period. Three different vulnerability scenarios were considered assuming low, medium and high fire severity causing different levels of damage. Over Europe, the potential damage of wild land fires ranges from 10 - 13, 732 Euro*ha-1*yr-1 for low fire severity, 32 - 45,772 Euro*ha-1*yr-1 for medium fire severity and 54 - 77,812 Euro*ha-1*yr-1 for high fire severity. The least vulnerable are natural grasslands, moors and heathland and sclerophyllous vegetation, while the highest cost occurs for restoring broad-leaved forest. Preliminary validation comparing these estimates with official damage assessments for past fires shows reasonable results. The restoration cost approach allows for a straightforward, data extensive assessment of fire vulnerability at European level. A disadvantage is the inherent simplification of the evaluation procedure with the underestimation of non-markets goods and services. Thus, a second approach has been developed, valuing individual wild land goods and services and assessing their annual flow which is lost for a certain period of time in case of a fire event. However

  7. A new forest fire paradigm: The need for high-severity fires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monica L. Bond; Rodney B. Siegel; Richard L. Hutto; Victoria A. Saab; Stephen A. Shunk

    2012-01-01

    Bond, Monica L.; Siegel, Rodney B.; Hutto, Richard L.; Saab, Victoria A.; Shunk, Stephen A. 2012. A new forest fire paradigm: The need for high-severity fires. The Wildlife Professional. Winter 2012: 46-49. During the 2012 fire season from June through August, wildfires in the drought-stricken western and central United States burned more than 3.6 million acres of...

  8. National Fire Protection Association

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... closed NFPA Journal® NFPA Journal® Update (newsletter) Fire Technology ... die from American home fires, and another 13,000 are injured each year. This is the story of fire that the statistics won't show ...

  9. The human and fire connection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Theresa B. Jain

    2014-01-01

    We refer to fire as a natural disturbance, but unlike other disturbances such as forest insects and diseases, fire has had an intimate relationship with humans. Fire facilitated human evolution over two million years ago when our ancestors began to use fire to cook. Fire empowered our furbearers to adapt to cold climates, allowing humans to disperse and settle into...

  10. Using fire dynamics simulator to reconstruct a hydroelectric power plant fire accident.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chi, Jen-Hao; Wu, Sheng-Hung; Shu, Chi-Min

    2011-11-01

    The location of the hydroelectric power plant poses a high risk to occupants seeking to escape in a fire accident. Calculating the heat release rate of transformer oil as 11.5 MW/m(2), the fire at the Taiwan Dajia-River hydroelectric power plant was reconstructed using the fire dynamics simulator (FDS). The variations at the escape route of the fire hazard factors temperature, radiant heat, carbon monoxide, and oxygen were collected during the simulation to verify the causes of the serious casualties resulting from the fire. The simulated safe escape time when taking temperature changes into account is about 236 sec, 155 sec for radiant heat changes, 260 sec for carbon monoxide changes, and 235-248 sec for oxygen changes. These escape times are far less than the actual escape time of 302 sec. The simulation thus demonstrated the urgent need to improve escape options for people escaping a hydroelectric power plant fire. © 2011 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

  11. An assessment of the impact of home safety assessments on fires and fire-related injuries: a case study of Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arch, B N; Thurston, M N

    2013-06-01

    Deaths and injuries related to fires are largely preventable events. In the UK, a plethora of community-based fire safety initiatives have been introduced over the last 25 years, often led by fire and rescue services, to address this issue. This paper focuses on one such initiative--home safety assessments (HSAs). Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service (in England) implemented a uniquely large-scale HSA intervention. This paper assesses its effectiveness. The impact of HSAs was assessed in relation to three outcomes: accidental dwelling fires (ADFs), ADFs contained and injuries arising from ADFs. A two-period comparison in fire-related rates of incidences in Cheshire between 2002 and 2011 was implemented, using Poisson regression and adjusting for the national temporal trend using a control group comprising the 37 other English non-metropolitan fire-services. Significant reductions were observed in rates of ADFs [incidence rate ratios (IRR): 0.79, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.74-0.83, P fires contained to room of origin. There is strong evidence to suggest that the intervention was successful in reducing domestic fires and related injuries.

  12. A method for mapping fire hazard and risk across multiple scales and its application in fire management

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robert E. Keane; Stacy A. Drury; Eva C. Karau; Paul F. Hessburg; Keith M. Reynolds

    2010-01-01

    This paper presents modeling methods for mapping fire hazard and fire risk using a research model called FIREHARM (FIRE Hazard and Risk Model) that computes common measures of fire behavior, fire danger, and fire effects to spatially portray fire hazard over space. FIREHARM can compute a measure of risk associated with the distribution of these measures over time using...

  13. Back to Basics: Preventing Surgical Fires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spruce, Lisa

    2016-09-01

    When fires occur in the OR, they are devastating and potentially fatal to both patients and health care workers. Fires can be prevented by understanding the fire triangle and methods of reducing fire risk, conducting fire risk assessments, and knowing how to respond if a fire occurs. This Back to Basics article addresses the basics of fire prevention and the steps that can be taken to prevent fires from occurring. Copyright © 2016 AORN, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Fire safety at home

    Science.gov (United States)

    ... over the smoke alarm as needed. Using a fire extinguisher can put out a small fire to keep it from getting out of control. Tips for use include: Keep fire extinguishers in handy locations, at least one on ...

  15. Fire-retardant-treated strandboard : properties and fire performance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jerrold Winandy; Qingwen Wang; Robert H. White

    2008-01-01

    This study evaluated a series of single-layer, randomly oriented strandboard panels made with one resin type, a single resin loading level, and four fire-retardant-treatment levels. The fire retardant (FR) evaluated was a pH-buffered combination of boric acid and organic phosphate. Siberian larch strands were separated into five batches. One batch of strands served as...

  16. Developing fire management mixes for fire program planning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armando González-Cabán; Patricia B. Shinkle; Thomas J. Mills

    1986-01-01

    Evaluating economic efficiency of fire management program options requires information on the firefighting inputs, such as vehicles and crews, that would be needed to execute the program option selected. An algorithm was developed to translate automatically dollars allocated to type of firefighting inputs to numbers of units, using a set of weights for a specific fire...

  17. Plutonium fires; Incendies de plutonium

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mestre, E.

    1959-06-23

    The author reports an information survey on accidents which occurred when handling plutonium. He first addresses accidents reported in documents. He indicates the circumstances and consequences of these accidents (explosion in glove boxes, fires of plutonium chips, plutonium fire followed by filter destruction, explosion during plutonium chip dissolution followed by chip fire). He describes hazards associated with plutonium fires: atmosphere and surface contamination, criticality. The author gives some advices to avoid plutonium fires. These advices concern electric installations, the use of flammable solvents, general cautions associated with plutonium handling, venting and filtration. He finally describes how to fight plutonium fires, and measures to be taken after the fire (staff contamination control, atmosphere control)

  18. Mitigating operating room fires: development of a carbon dioxide fire prevention device.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Culp, William C; Kimbrough, Bradly A; Luna, Sarah; Maguddayao, Aris J

    2014-04-01

    Operating room fires are sentinel events that present a real danger to surgical patients and occur at least as frequently as wrong-sided surgery. For fire to occur, the 3 points of the fire triad must be present: an oxidizer, an ignition source, and fuel source. The electrosurgical unit (ESU) pencil triggers most operating room fires. Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a gas that prevents ignition and suppresses fire by displacing oxygen. We hypothesize that a device can be created to reduce operating room fires by generating a cone of CO2 around the ESU pencil tip. One such device was created by fabricating a divergent nozzle and connecting it to a CO2 source. This device was then placed over the ESU pencil, allowing the tip to be encased in a cone of CO2 gas. The device was then tested in 21%, 50%, and 100% oxygen environments. The ESU was activated at 50 W cut mode while placing the ESU pencil tip on a laparotomy sponge resting on an aluminum test plate for up to 30 seconds or until the sponge ignited. High-speed videography was used to identify time of ignition. Each test was performed in each oxygen environment 5 times with the device activated (CO2 flow 8 L/min) and with the device deactivated (no CO2 flow-control). In addition, 3-dimensional spatial mapping of CO2 concentrations was performed with a CO2 sampling device. The median ± SD [range] ignition time of the control group in 21% oxygen was 2.9 s ± 0.44 [2.3-3.0], in 50% oxygen 0.58 s ± 0.12 [0.47-0.73], and in 100% oxygen 0.48 s ± 0.50 [0.03-1.27]. Fires were ignited with each control trial (15/15); no fires ignited when the device was used (0/15, P fire prevention device can be created by using a divergent nozzle design through which CO2 passes, creating a cone of fire suppressant. This device as demonstrated in a flammability model effectively reduced the risk of fire. CO2 3-dimensional spatial mapping suggests effective fire reduction at least 1 cm away from the tip of the ESU pencil at 8 L/min CO2 flow

  19. In situ measurements of post-fire debris flows in southern California: Comparisons of the timing and magnitude of 24 debris-flow events with rainfall and soil moisture conditions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kean, J.W.; Staley, D.M.; Cannon, S.H.

    2011-01-01

    Debris flows often occur in burned steeplands of southern California, sometimes causing property damage and loss of life. In an effort to better understand the hydrologic controls on post-fire debris-flow initiation, timing and magnitude, we measured the flow stage, rainfall, channel bed pore fluid pressure and hillslope soil-moisture accompanying 24 debris flows recorded in five different watersheds burned in the 2009 Station and Jesusita Fires (San Gabriel and Santa Ynez Mountains). The measurements show substantial differences in debris-flow dynamics between sites and between sequential events at the same site. Despite these differences, the timing and magnitude of all events were consistently associated with local peaks in short duration (landslides. By identifying the storm characteristics most closely associated with post-fire debris flows, these measurements provide valuable guidance for warning operations and important constraints for developing and testing models of post-fire debris flows. copyright. 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.

  20. Microwave firing of MnZn-ferrites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tsakaloudi, V.; Papazoglou, E.; Zaspalis, V.T.

    2004-01-01

    Microwave firing is evaluated in comparison to conventional firing for MnZn-ferrites. For otherwise identical conditions, microwave firing results to higher densities and coarser microstructures. Initial magnetic permeability values (25 kHz, 25 deg. C, <0.1 mT) after conventional firing are approximately 5000, but the corresponding values after microwave firing are approximately 6000. Unlike the conventional firing process, the final density after microwave firing is increased by increasing the prefiring temperature. As appears from the results of this study, microwave firing could be in principle a promising MnZn-ferrite firing technology for materials to be used in high magnetic permeability applications. No advantages of microwave firing are evident for materials intended to be used in high field power applications

  1. Post-fire rill and gully formation, Schultz Fire 2010, Arizona, USA

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel G. Neary; Karen A. Koestner; Ann Youberg; Peter E. Koestner

    2011-01-01

    The Schultz Fire burned 6,100 ha on the eastern slopes of the San Francisco Peaks, a dormant Middle Pliocene to Holocene aged stratovolcano in northern Arizona (Figure 1). The fire burned in the Coconino National Forest between June 20th and 30th, 2010, across moderate to very steep ponderosa pine and mixed conifer watersheds. About 40% of the fire area was classified...

  2. Fires in rooms containing electrical components - incident planning, fire fighting tactics, risks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Magnusson, Tommy; Ottosson, Jan; Lindskog, BertiI; Soederquist Bende, Evy; Eriksson, Fredrik; Haffling, Stefan

    2006-12-01

    On July 1, 2005 a fire occurred within an electrical switch room at Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant. At the evaluation of the incident it was identified that the pre-fire plans did not give sufficient information in order to make the appropriate decisions. Questions raised based on the incident are how decisions are made and orders are delegated with respect to the incident command, which fire fighting tactic should be used, which types of extinguishing media should be used, what are the risks with respect to safety of staff and safety of the reactor. Lessons learned from the fire at Forsmark were that pre-incident planning was at hand but the information was not sufficient to make the correct initial decisions that might be critical for life and property. One of the most crucial ingredients in all safety related work is to utilize previous experience in order to maintain a high degree of safety. Lessons learnt are also the foundation on which the ability to construct or create strong barriers against a certain fault phenomena, fault mechanism or type of initial event. In the case of nuclear processes, fire is considered as an important and critical initial event which has to be recognized in a number of cases in order to maintain a safe process. The likelihood for a fire to represent an initial event should not be underestimated and can therefore not be neglected, probabilistically or deterministically, unless the inherent safety systems can not control the event in an acceptable manner. Regardless of safety measures and lessons learnt from previous experiences in the construction and the operation of the nuclear facility, fires can occur. Previous experiences point out that process system, e.g. systems that are part of the turbine, are more frequently subject to fire incidents compared to ordinary safety systems. Fires in electrical components, often electrical cabinets, can be difficult to handle and to extinguish quickly. This report presents the background work

  3. Fundamentals of Fire Phenomena

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Quintiere, James

    analyses. Fire phenomena encompass everything about the scientific principles behind fire behaviour. Combining the principles of chemistry, physics, heat and mass transfer, and fluid dynamics necessary to understand the fundamentals of fire phenomena, this book integrates the subject into a clear...

  4. Wildland fire as a self-regulating mechanism: the role of previous burns and weather in limiting fire progression.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parks, Sean A; Holsinger, Lisa M; Miller, Carol; Nelson, Cara R

    2015-09-01

    Theory suggests that natural fire regimes can result in landscapes that are both self-regulating and resilient to fire. For example, because fires consume fuel, they may create barriers to the spread of future fires, thereby regulating fire size. Top-down controls such as weather, however, can weaken this effect. While empirical examples demonstrating this pattern-process feedback between vegetation and fire exist, they have been geographically limited or did not consider the influence of time between fires and weather. The availability of remotely sensed data identifying fire activity over the last four decades provides an opportunity to explicitly quantify-the ability of wildland fire to limit the progression of subsequent fire. Furthermore, advances in fire progression mapping now allow an evaluation of how daily weather as a top-down control modifies this effect. In this study, we evaluated the ability of wildland fire to create barriers that limit the spread of subsequent fire along a gradient representing time between fires in four large study areas in the western United States. Using fire progression maps in conjunction with weather station data, we also evaluated the influence of daily weather. Results indicate that wildland fire does limit subsequent fire spread in all four study areas, but this effect decays over time; wildland fire no longer limits subsequent fire spread 6-18 years after fire, depending on the study area. We also found that the ability of fire to regulate, subsequent fire progression was substantially reduced under extreme conditions compared to moderate weather conditions in all four study areas. This study increases understanding of the spatial feedbacks that can lead to self-regulating landscapes as well as the effects of top-down controls, such as weather, on these feedbacks. Our results will be useful to managers who seek to restore natural fire regimes or to exploit recent burns when managing fire.

  5. Post-fire vegetation behaviour in large burnt scars from 2005 fire season in Spain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastos, A.; Gouveia, C. M.; DaCamara, C. C.; Trigo, R. M.

    2012-04-01

    Wildfires have a wide diversity of impacts on landscape which, in turn, depend on the interaction of fire regimes (e.g. intensity, extent, frequency) and the response of vegetation to them in short and long-terms. The increase in erosion rates and the loss of nutrients by runoff in the first months following the fire are among the major impacts of wildfires. A minimum of 30% of vegetation cover is enough to protect soils against erosion but vegetation may require a long period to reach this threshold after severe fires. Since erosion risk is strongly linked to vegetation recovery rates, post-fire vegetation monitoring becomes crucial in land management. Fire regimes in the Mediterranean have been changing in the past decades due to modifications in both socio-economic and climate patterns. Although many vegetation species in Mediterranean ecosystems are adapted to wildfires, changes in fire regime characteristics affect the ability of ecosystems to recover to their previous state. In Spain, fire is an important driver of changes in landscape composition, leading to dominance of shrubland following fire and to a major decrease of pine woodlands (Viedma et al., 2006). Remote sensing is a powerful tool in land management, allowing vegetation monitoring on large spatial scales for relatively long periods of time. In order to assess vegetation dynamics, monthly NDVI data from 1998-2009 from SPOT/VEGETATION at 1km spatial resolution over the Iberian Peninsula were used. This work focuses on 2005 fire season in Spain, which registered the highest amount of burnt area since 1994, with more than 188000 ha burnt. Burnt scars in this fire season were identified by cluster analysis. Post-fire vegetation recovery was assessed based on the monoparametric model developed by Gouveia et al. (2010) that was applied to four large scars located in different geographical settings with different land cover characteristics. While the two northern regions presented fast recovery, in the

  6. Analytical model for cable tray fires

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Clarke, R.K.

    1975-09-01

    A model for cable tray fires based on buoyant plume theory is presented. Using the model in conjunction with empirical data on size of natural fires and burning rate of cellulosic materials, estimates are made of the heat flux as a function of vertical and horizontal distance from a tray fire. Both local fires and fires extending along a significant length of tray are considered. For the particular set of fire parameters assumed in the calculations, the current tray separation criteria of five feet vertical and three feet horizontal are found to be marginal for local fires and too small to prevent fire spread for extended tray fires. 8 references. (auth)

  7. Large scale fire experiments in the HDR containment as a basis for fire code development

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hosser, D.; Dobbernack, R.

    1993-01-01

    Between 1984 and 1991 7 different series of large scale fire experiments and related numerical and theoretical investigations have been performed in the containment of a high pressure reactor in Germany (known as HDR plant). The experimental part included: gas burner tests for checking the containment behaviour; naturally ventilated fires with wood cribs; naturally and forced ventilated oil pool fires; naturally and forced ventilated cable fires. Many results of the oil pool and cable fires can directly be applied to predict the impact of real fires at different locations in a containment on mechanical or structural components as well as on plant personnel. But the main advantage of the measurements and observations was to serve as a basis for fire code development and validation. Different types of fire codes have been used to predict in advance or evaluate afterwards the test results: zone models for single room and multiple room configurations; system codes for multiple room configurations; field models for complex single room configurations. Finally, there exist codes of varying degree of specialization which have proven their power and sufficient exactness to predict fire effects as a basis for optimum fire protection design. (author)

  8. The largest forest fires in Portugal: the constraints of burned area size on the comprehension of fire severity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tedim, Fantina; Remelgado, Ruben; Martins, João; Carvalho, Salete

    2015-01-01

    Portugal is a European country with highest forest fires density and burned area. Since beginning of official forest fires database in 1980, an increase in number of fires and burned area as well as appearance of large and catastrophic fires have characterized fire activity in Portugal. In 1980s, the largest fires were just a little bit over 10,000 ha. However, in the beginning of 21st century several fires occurred with a burned area over 20,000 ha. Some of these events can be classified as mega-fires due to their ecological and socioeconomic severity. The present study aimed to discuss the characterization of large forest fires trend, in order to understand if the largest fires that occurred in Portugal were exceptional events or evidences of a new trend, and the constraints of fire size to characterize fire effects because, usually, it is assumed that larger the fire higher the damages. Using Portuguese forest fire database and satellite imagery, the present study showed that the largest fires could be seen at the same time as exceptional events and as evidence of a new fire regime. It highlighted the importance of size and patterns of unburned patches within fire perimeter as well as heterogeneity of fire ecological severity, usually not included in fire regime description, which are critical to fire management and research. The findings of this research can be used in forest risk reduction and suppression planning.

  9. Synthesis of knowledge of extreme fire behavior: volume I for fire managers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul A. Werth; Brian E. Potter; Craig B. Clements; Mark A. Finney; Scott L. Goodrick; Martin E. Alexander; Miguel G. Cruz; Jason A. Forthofer; Sara S. McAllister

    2011-01-01

    The National Wildfire Coordinating Group definition of extreme fire behavior (EFB) indicates a level of fire behavior characteristics that ordinarily precludes methods of direct control action. One or more of the following is usually involved: high rate of spread, prolific crowning/spotting, presence of fire whirls, and strong convection column. Predictability is...

  10. EFFICIENCY OF FIRE-FIGHTING PROTECTION OBJECTS IN PROVISION OF FIRE SAFETY AT INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. V. Zhovna

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper gives an analysis of economic results pertaining to organization of a system for fire-fighting protection of industrial enterprises in theRepublicofBelarus. Statistical data on operational conditions of technical means of fire-fighting protection, particularly, automatic systems for detection and extinguishing of fires, systems of internal fire-fighting water-supply.  Requirements and provisions  of normative and technical documents are thoroughly studied. Observance of these documents is to ensure the required level of  fire safety. On the basis of the obtained results concerning  economic analysis of efficiency optimization directions are defined for selection of technical means of fire-fighting protection at objects of industrial purpose.

  11. Pipeline oil fire detection with MODIS active fire products

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ogungbuyi, M. G.; Martinez, P.; Eckardt, F. D.

    2017-12-01

    We investigate 85 129 MODIS satellite active fire events from 2007 to 2015 in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. The region is the oil base for Nigerian economy and the hub of oil exploration where oil facilities (i.e. flowlines, flow stations, trunklines, oil wells and oil fields) are domiciled, and from where crude oil and refined products are transported to different Nigerian locations through a network of pipeline systems. Pipeline and other oil facilities are consistently susceptible to oil leaks due to operational or maintenance error, and by acts of deliberate sabotage of the pipeline equipment which often result in explosions and fire outbreaks. We used ground oil spill reports obtained from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) database (see www.oilspillmonitor.ng) to validate MODIS satellite data. NOSDRA database shows an estimate of 10 000 spill events from 2007 - 2015. The spill events were filtered to include largest spills by volume and events occurring only in the Niger Delta (i.e. 386 spills). By projecting both MODIS fire and spill as `input vector' layers with `Points' geometry, and the Nigerian pipeline networks as `from vector' layers with `LineString' geometry in a geographical information system, we extracted the nearest MODIS events (i.e. 2192) closed to the pipelines by 1000m distance in spatial vector analysis. The extraction process that defined the nearest distance to the pipelines is based on the global practices of the Right of Way (ROW) in pipeline management that earmarked 30m strip of land to the pipeline. The KML files of the extracted fires in a Google map validated their source origin to be from oil facilities. Land cover mapping confirmed fire anomalies. The aim of the study is to propose a near-real-time monitoring of spill events along pipeline routes using 250 m spatial resolution of MODIS active fire detection sensor when such spills are accompanied by fire events in the study location.

  12. Integrated approach to fire safety at the Krsko nuclear power plant - fire protection action plan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lambright, J.A.; Cerjak, J.; Spiler, J.; Ioannidi, J.

    1998-01-01

    Nuclear Power Plant Krsko (NPP Krsko) is a Westinghouse design, single-unit, 1882 Megawatt thermal (MWt), two-loop, pressurized water nuclear power plant. The fire protection program at NPP Krsko has been reviewed and reports issued recommending changes and modifications to the program, plant systems and structures. Three reports were issued, the NPP Krsko Fire Hazard Analysis (Safe Shout down Separation Analysis Report), the ICISA Analysis of Core Damage Frequency Due to Fire at the NPP Krsko and IPEEE (Individual Plant External Event Examination) related to fire risk. The Fire Hazard Analysis Report utilizes a compliance - based deterministic approach to identification of fire area hazards. This report focuses on strict compliance from the perspective of US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC), standards, guidelines and acceptance criteria and does not consider variations to comply with the intent of the regulations. The probabilistic analysis methide used in the ICISA and IPEEE report utilizes a risk based nad intent based approach in determining critical at-risk fire areas. NPP Krsko has already completed the following suggestions/recommendations from the above and OSART reports in order to comply with Appendix R: Installation of smoke detectors in the Control Room; Installation of Emergency Lighting in some plant areas and of Remote Shout down panels; Extension of Sound Power Communication System; Installation of Fire Annunciator Panel at the On-site Fire Brigade Station; Installation of Smoke Detection System in the (a) Main Control Room Panels, (b) Essential Service Water Building. (c) Component Cooling Building pump area, chiller area and HVAC area, (d) Auxiliary Building Safety pump rooms, (e) Fuel Handling room, (f) Intermediate Building AFFW area and compressor room, and (g) Tadwaste building; inclusion of Auxiliary operators in the Fire Brigade; training of Fire Brigade Members in Plant Operation (9 week course); Development of Fire Door Inspection and

  13. Vegetation responses to season of fire in an aseasonal, fire-prone fynbos shrubland

    OpenAIRE

    Tineke Kraaij; Richard M. Cowling; Brian W. van Wilgen; Diba R. Rikhotso; Mark Difford

    2017-01-01

    Season of fire has marked effects on floristic composition in fire-prone Mediterranean-climate shrublands. In these winter-rainfall systems, summer-autumn fires lead to optimal recruitment of overstorey proteoid shrubs (non-sprouting, slow-maturing, serotinous Proteaceae) which are important to the conservation of floral diversity. We explored whether fire season has similar effects on early establishment of five proteoid species in the eastern coastal part of the Cape Floral Kingdom (South A...

  14. Fire tests and their relevance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Malhotra, H.L.

    1984-01-01

    Background information is provided about the nature of fire tests in general, not specifically designed for testing nuclear flasks. Headings are: brief history (including various temperature/time fire curves); the current position; types of tests; validation of fire tests; fire safety system. (U.K.)

  15. Discovery Mondays - Men of fire: the fire brigade show their mettle

    CERN Multimedia

    2004-01-01

    Flashover and backdraught, these technical terms refer to two of the most dangerous phenomena associated with fires. In order to train in dealing with them, in the course of their fire fighting duties the CERN fire brigade use special simulation equipment. The demonstrations are rather spectacular... Thrills are therefore guaranteed at the next Discovery Monday on 2 February! In the course of the evening, you will see fire-fighters demonstrate climbing techniques including abseiling, a method they would have to use to access underground structures on the CERN site in the event of an accident. The accomplished climbers (the Hazardous Environments Response Team) will provide detailed explanations of the rescue techniques and procedures they use in tunnels and hazardous environments. CERN firemen simulate the backdraft phenomena for training. The demonstration, which you will have the opportunity to observe, on the next Discovery Monday, is spectacular. However, the remit of the CERN fire brigade goes well b...

  16. Remote sensing of vegetation fires and its contribution to a fire management information system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stephane P. Flasse; Simon N. Trigg; Pietro N. Ceccato; Anita H. Perryman; Andrew T. Hudak; Mark W. Thompson; Bruce H. Brockett; Moussa Drame; Tim Ntabeni; Philip E. Frost; Tobias Landmann; Johan L. le Roux

    2004-01-01

    In the last decade, research has proven that remote sensing can provide very useful support to fire managers. This chapter provides an overview of the types of information remote sensing can provide to the fire community. First, it considers fire management information needs in the context of a fire management information system. An introduction to remote sensing then...

  17. Restoring surface fire stabilizes forest carbon under extreme fire weather in the Sierra Nevada

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daniel J. Krofcheck; Matthew D. Hurteau; Robert M. Scheller; E. Louise Loudermilk

    2017-01-01

    Climate change in the western United States has increased the frequency of extreme fire weather events and is projected to increase the area burned by wildfire in the coming decades. This changing fire regime, coupled with increased high-severity fire risk from a legacy of fire exclusion, could destabilize forest carbon (C), decrease net ecosystem exchange (...

  18. Holocene fire dynamics in Fennoscandia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clear, Jennifer; Seppa, Heikki; Kuosmanen, Niina; Molinari, Chiara; Lehsten, Veiko; Allen, Katherine; Bradshaw, Richard

    2015-04-01

    Prescribed burning is advocated in Fennoscandia to promote regeneration and to encourage biodiversity. This method of forest management is based on the perception that fire was much more frequent in the recent past and over a century of active fire suppression has created a boreal forest ecosystem almost free of natural fire. The absence of fire is thought to have contributed to the widespread dominance of Picea abies (Norway spruce) with the successive spruce dominated forest further reducing fire ignition potential. However, humans have altered the natural fire dynamics of Fennoscandia since the early- to mid-Holocene and disentangling the anthropogenic driven fire dynamics from the natural fire dynamics is challenging. Through palaeoecology and sedimentary charcoal deposits we are able to explore the Holocene spatial and temporal variability and changing drivers of fire and vegetation dynamics in Fennoscandia. At the local-scale, two forest hollow environments (history are compared to identify unique and mutual changes in disturbance history. Pollen derived quantitative reconstruction of vegetation at both the local- and regional-scale identifies local-scale disturbance dynamics and large-scale ecosystem response. Spatio-temporal heterogeneity and variability in biomass burning is explored throughout Fennoscandia and Denmark to identify the changing drives of fire dynamics throughout the Holocene. Palaeo-vegetation reconstructions are compared to process-based, climate driven dynamic vegetation model output to test the significance of fire frequency as a driver of vegetation composition and dynamics. Early-Holocene fire regimes in Fennoscandia are driven by natural climate variations and fuel availability. The establishment and spread of Norway spruce is driven by an increase in continentality of climate, but local natural and anthropogenic ecosystem disturbance may have aided this spread. The expansion of spruce led to a step-wise reduction in regional biomass

  19. Intelligent buildings, automatic fire alarm and fire-protection control system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tian Deyuan

    1999-01-01

    The author describes in brief the intelligent buildings, and the automatic fire alarm and fire-protection control system. On the basis of the four-bus, three-bus and two-bus, a new transfer technique was developed

  20. Fire management of California shrubland landscapes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keeley, Jon E.

    2002-01-01

    Fire management of California shrublands has been heavily influenced by policies designed for coniferous forests, however, fire suppression has not effectively excluded fire from chaparral and coastal sage scrub landscapes and catastrophic wildfires are not the result of unnatural fuel accumulation. There is no evidence that prescribed burning in these shrublands provides any resource benefit and in some areas may negatively impact shrublands by increasing fire frequency. Therefore, fire hazard reduction is the primary justification for prescription burning, but it is doubtful that rotational burning to create landscape age mosaics is a cost effective method of controlling catastrophic wildfires. There are problems with prescription burning in this crown-fire ecosystem that are not shared by forests with a natural surface-fire regime. Prescription weather conditions preclude burning at rotation intervals sufficient to effect the control of fires ignited under severe weather conditions. Fire management should focus on strategic placement of prescription burns to both insure the most efficient fire hazard reduction and to minimize the amount of landscape exposed to unnaturally high fire frequency. A major contributor to increased fire suppression costs and increased loss of property and lives is the continued urban sprawl into wildlands naturally subjected to high intensity crown fires. Differences in shrubland fire history suggest there may be a need for different fire management tactics between central coastal and southern California. Much less is known about shrubland fire history in the Sierra Nevada foothills and interior North Coast Ranges, and thus it would be prudent to not transfer these ideas too broadly across the range of chaparral until we have a clearer understanding of the extent of regional variation in shrubland fire regimes.

  1. Fire science at LLNL: A review

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hasegawa, H.K. (ed.)

    1990-03-01

    This fire sciences report from LLNL includes topics on: fire spread in trailer complexes, properties of welding blankets, validation of sprinkler systems, fire and smoke detectors, fire modeling, and other fire engineering and safety issues. (JEF)

  2. The Fire Effects Information System - serving managers since before the Yellowstone fires

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jane Kapler Smith; Janet L. Fryer; Kristin Zouhar

    2009-01-01

    This presentation will describe the current status of the Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) and explore lessons learned from this 23-yearold project about the application of science to fire management issues. FEIS contains literature reviews covering biology and fire ecology for approximately 1,100 species in North America: plants and animals, native and nonnative...

  3. Fire danger rating over Mediterranean Europe based on fire radiative power derived from Meteosat

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pinto, Miguel M.; DaCamara, Carlos C.; Trigo, Isabel F.; Trigo, Ricardo M.; Feridun Turkman, K.

    2018-02-01

    We present a procedure that allows the operational generation of daily forecasts of fire danger over Mediterranean Europe. The procedure combines historical information about radiative energy released by fire events with daily meteorological forecasts, as provided by the Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis (LSA SAF) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). Fire danger is estimated based on daily probabilities of exceedance of daily energy released by fires occurring at the pixel level. Daily probability considers meteorological factors by means of the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) and is estimated using a daily model based on a generalized Pareto distribution. Five classes of fire danger are then associated with daily probability estimated by the daily model. The model is calibrated using 13 years of data (2004-2016) and validated against the period of January-September 2017. Results obtained show that about 72 % of events releasing daily energy above 10 000 GJ belong to the extreme class of fire danger, a considerably high fraction that is more than 1.5 times the values obtained when using the currently operational Fire Danger Forecast module of the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) or the Fire Risk Map (FRM) product disseminated by the LSA SAF. Besides assisting in wildfire management, the procedure is expected to help in decision making on prescribed burning within the framework of agricultural and forest management practices.

  4. Fire danger rating over Mediterranean Europe based on fire radiative power derived from Meteosat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. M. Pinto

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available We present a procedure that allows the operational generation of daily forecasts of fire danger over Mediterranean Europe. The procedure combines historical information about radiative energy released by fire events with daily meteorological forecasts, as provided by the Satellite Application Facility for Land Surface Analysis (LSA SAF and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF. Fire danger is estimated based on daily probabilities of exceedance of daily energy released by fires occurring at the pixel level. Daily probability considers meteorological factors by means of the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI and is estimated using a daily model based on a generalized Pareto distribution. Five classes of fire danger are then associated with daily probability estimated by the daily model. The model is calibrated using 13 years of data (2004–2016 and validated against the period of January–September 2017. Results obtained show that about 72 % of events releasing daily energy above 10 000 GJ belong to the extreme class of fire danger, a considerably high fraction that is more than 1.5 times the values obtained when using the currently operational Fire Danger Forecast module of the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS or the Fire Risk Map (FRM product disseminated by the LSA SAF. Besides assisting in wildfire management, the procedure is expected to help in decision making on prescribed burning within the framework of agricultural and forest management practices.

  5. 2013 Annual Report: Fire Modeling Institute

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robin J. Innes; Faith Ann Heinsch; Kristine M. Lee

    2014-01-01

    The Fire Modeling Institute (FMI) of the U.S. Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS), is a national and international resource for fire managers. Located within the Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory (Fire Lab) in Montana, FMI helps managers utilize fire and fuel science and technology developed throughout the...

  6. Application Study of Fire Severity Classification

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, In Hwan; Kim, Hyeong Taek; Jee, Moon Hak; Kim, Yun Jung

    2013-01-01

    This paper introduces the Fire Incidents Severity Classification Method for Korean NPPs that may be derived directly from the data fields and feasibility study for domestic uses. FEDB was characterized in more detail and assessed based on the significance of fire incidents in the updated database and five fire severity categories were defined. The logical approach to determine the fire severity starts from the most severe characteristics, namely challenging fires, and continues to define the less challenging and undetermined categories in progress. If the FEDB is utilized for Korean NPPs, the ways of Fire Severity Classification suggested in 2.4 above can be utilized for the quantitative fire risk analysis in future. The Fire Events Database (FEDB) is the primary source of fire data which are used for fire frequency in Fire PSA (Probabilistic Safety Assessment). The purpose of its development is to calculate the quantitative fire frequency at the comprehensive and consolidated source derived from the fire incident information available for Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Recently, the Fire Events Database (FEDB) was updated by Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in U. S. The FEDB is intended to update the fire event history up to 2009. A significant enhancement to it is the reorganization and refinement of the database structure and data fields. It has been expanded and improved data fields, coding consistency, incident detail, data review fields, and reference data source traceability. It has been designed to better support several Fire PRA uses as well

  7. Recent fire history of the Table Mountain National Park and implications for fire management

    CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

    Forsyth, GG

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available . In addition, not every fire record was complete. Not all fire records were accompanied by a full date (day, month and year), and fires covering 19.7% of the total area burnt were Figure 1 Mean fire return periods per decade in the Table Mountain National... to fire in the Table Mountain National Park (Bond, Le Roux & Erntzen 1990, Cowling & Gxaba 1990, Moll & Gubb 1981, Thuiller et al. 2007, Yeaton & Bond 1991). Of the 40 extant species of Proteaceae in the park, at least 9 (in the genera Protea...

  8. Production of Fatty Acid-Derived Valuable Chemicals in Synthetic Microbes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu, Ai-Qun; Pratomo Juwono, Nina Kurniasih; Leong, Susanna Su Jan; Chang, Matthew Wook

    2014-01-01

    Fatty acid derivatives, such as hydroxy fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty acid methyl/ethyl esters, and fatty alka(e)nes, have a wide range of industrial applications including plastics, lubricants, and fuels. Currently, these chemicals are obtained mainly through chemical synthesis, which is complex and costly, and their availability from natural biological sources is extremely limited. Metabolic engineering of microorganisms has provided a platform for effective production of these valuable biochemicals. Notably, synthetic biology-based metabolic engineering strategies have been extensively applied to refactor microorganisms for improved biochemical production. Here, we reviewed: (i) the current status of metabolic engineering of microbes that produce fatty acid-derived valuable chemicals, and (ii) the recent progress of synthetic biology approaches that assist metabolic engineering, such as mRNA secondary structure engineering, sensor-regulator system, regulatable expression system, ultrasensitive input/output control system, and computer science-based design of complex gene circuits. Furthermore, key challenges and strategies were discussed. Finally, we concluded that synthetic biology provides useful metabolic engineering strategies for economically viable production of fatty acid-derived valuable chemicals in engineered microbes.

  9. Production of Fatty Acid-Derived Valuable Chemicals in Synthetic Microbes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu, Ai-Qun; Pratomo Juwono, Nina Kurniasih [Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore (Singapore); Synthetic Biology Research Program, National University of Singapore, Singapore (Singapore); Leong, Susanna Su Jan [Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore (Singapore); Synthetic Biology Research Program, National University of Singapore, Singapore (Singapore); Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore (Singapore); Chang, Matthew Wook, E-mail: bchcmw@nus.edu.sg [Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore (Singapore); Synthetic Biology Research Program, National University of Singapore, Singapore (Singapore)

    2014-12-23

    Fatty acid derivatives, such as hydroxy fatty acids, fatty alcohols, fatty acid methyl/ethyl esters, and fatty alka(e)nes, have a wide range of industrial applications including plastics, lubricants, and fuels. Currently, these chemicals are obtained mainly through chemical synthesis, which is complex and costly, and their availability from natural biological sources is extremely limited. Metabolic engineering of microorganisms has provided a platform for effective production of these valuable biochemicals. Notably, synthetic biology-based metabolic engineering strategies have been extensively applied to refactor microorganisms for improved biochemical production. Here, we reviewed: (i) the current status of metabolic engineering of microbes that produce fatty acid-derived valuable chemicals, and (ii) the recent progress of synthetic biology approaches that assist metabolic engineering, such as mRNA secondary structure engineering, sensor-regulator system, regulatable expression system, ultrasensitive input/output control system, and computer science-based design of complex gene circuits. Furthermore, key challenges and strategies were discussed. Finally, we concluded that synthetic biology provides useful metabolic engineering strategies for economically viable production of fatty acid-derived valuable chemicals in engineered microbes.

  10. Fire mosaics and reptile conservation in a fire-prone region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nimmo, D G; Kelly, L T; Spence-Bailey, L M; Watson, S J; Taylor, R S; Clarke, M F; Bennett, A F

    2013-04-01

    Fire influences the distribution of fauna in terrestrial biomes throughout the world. Use of fire to achieve a mosaic of vegetation in different stages of succession after burning (i.e., patch-mosaic burning) is a dominant conservation practice in many regions. Despite this, knowledge of how the spatial attributes of vegetation mosaics created by fire affect fauna is extremely scarce, and it is unclear what kind of mosaic land managers should aim to achieve. We selected 28 landscapes (each 12.6 km(2) ) that varied in the spatial extent and diversity of vegetation succession after fire in a 104,000 km(2) area in the semiarid region of southeastern Australia. We surveyed for reptiles at 280 sites nested within the 28 landscapes. The landscape-level occurrence of 9 of the 22 species modeled was associated with the spatial extent of vegetation age classes created by fire. Biogeographic context and the extent of a vegetation type influenced 7 and 4 species, respectively. No species were associated with the diversity of vegetation ages within a landscape. Negative relations between reptile occurrence and both extent of recently burned vegetation (≤10 years postfire, n = 6) and long unburned vegetation (>35 years postfire, n = 4) suggested that a coarse-grained mosaic of areas (e.g. >1000 ha) of midsuccessional vegetation (11-35 years postfire) may support the fire-sensitive reptile species we modeled. This age class coincides with a peak in spinifex cover, a keystone structure for reptiles in semiarid and arid Australia. Maintaining over the long term a coarse-grained mosaic of large areas of midsuccessional vegetation in mallee ecosystems will need to be balanced against the short-term negative effects of large fires on many reptile species and a documented preference by species from other taxonomic groups, particularly birds, for older vegetation. © 2012 Society for Conservation Biology.

  11. Firing probability and mean firing rates of human muscle vasoconstrictor neurones are elevated during chronic asphyxia

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ashley, Cynthia; Burton, Danielle; Sverrisdottir, Yrsa B

    2010-01-01

    in the obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS) is associated with an increase in firing probability and mean firing rate, and an increase in multiple within-burst firing. Here we characterize the firing properties of muscle vasoconstrictor neurones in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), who...... are chronically asphyxic. We tested the hypothesis that this elevated chemical drive would shift the firing pattern from that seen in healthy subjects to that seen in OSAS. The mean firing probability (52%) and mean firing rate (0.92 Hz) of 17 muscle vasoconstrictor neurones recorded in COPD were comparable...

  12. New fire diurnal cycle characterizations to improve fire radiative energy assessments made from MODIS observations

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Andela, N.; Kaiser, J.; van der Werf, G.R.

    2015-01-01

    Accurate near real time fire emissions estimates are required for air quality forecasts. To date, most approaches are based on satellite-derived estimates of fire radiative power (FRP), which can be converted to fire radiative energy (FRE) which is directly related to fire emissions. Uncertainties

  13. Linking 3D spatial models of fuels and fire: Effects of spatial heterogeneity on fire behavior

    Science.gov (United States)

    Russell A. Parsons; William E. Mell; Peter McCauley

    2011-01-01

    Crownfire endangers fire fighters and can have severe ecological consequences. Prediction of fire behavior in tree crowns is essential to informed decisions in fire management. Current methods used in fire management do not address variability in crown fuels. New mechanistic physics-based fire models address convective heat transfer with computational fluid dynamics (...

  14. Weather, fuels, fire behavior, plumes, and smoke - the nexus of fire meteorology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott L. Goodrick; Timothy J. Brown; W. Matt Jolly

    2017-01-01

    In a pair of review papers, Potter (2012a, 2012b) summarized the significant fire weather research findings over about the past hundred years. Our scientific understanding of wildland fire-atmosphere interactions has evolved: from simple correlations supporting the notion that hot, dry, and windy conditions lead to more intense fires, we have moved towards more...

  15. The French fire protection concept. Vulnerability analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaercher, M.

    1998-01-01

    The French fire protection concept is based on a principle of three levels of defence in depth: fire prevention, fire containing and fire controlling. Fire prevention is based on arrangements which prevent the fire from starting or which make difficult for the fire to start. Fire containing is based on design measures so that the fire will have no impact on the safety of the installation. For fire controlling, equipment nad personnel are on duty in order to detect, to fight and to gain control over the fire as early as possible. The French fire protection concept gives priority to fire containing based on passive structural measures. All buildings containing safety equipment are divided into fire compartments (or fire areas) and fire cells (or fire zones). Basically, a compartment houses safety equipment belonging to one division (or train) so that the other division is always available to reach the plant safe shut down or to mitigate an accident. Because there is a large number of fire compartments and fire cells, deviations from the general principle can be observed. To this reason the RCC-I (Design and Construction Rules applicable for fire protection) requires to implement an assessment of the principle of division. This assessment is called vulnerability analysis. The vulnerability analysis is usually performed at the end of the project, before erection. It is also possible to perform a vulnerability analysis in an operating nuclear power plant in the scope of a fire safety upgrading programme. In the vulnerability analysis, the functional failure of all the equipment (except for those protected by a qualified fire barrier, designed or able to withstand the fire consequences) within the fire compartment or cell, where the fire breaks out, is postulated. The potential consequences for the plant safety are analysed

  16. Autonomous Forest Fire Detection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Breejen, E. den; Breuers, M.; Cremer, F.; Kemp, R.A.W.; Roos, M.; Schutte, K.; Vries, J.S. de

    1998-01-01

    Forest fire detection is a very important issue in the pre-suppression process. Timely detection allows the suppression units to reach the fire in its initial stages and this will reduce the suppression costs considerably. The autonomous forest fire detection principle is based on temporal contrast

  17. Wildland fire in ecosystems: fire and nonnative invasive plants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kristin Zouhar; Jane Kapler Smith; Steve Sutherland; Matthew L. Brooks

    2008-01-01

    This state-of-knowledge review of information on relationships between wildland fire and nonnative invasive plants can assist fire managers and other land managers concerned with prevention, detection, and eradication or control of nonnative invasive plants. The 16 chapters in this volume synthesize ecological and botanical principles regarding relationships between...

  18. Fire safety analysis: methodology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kazarians, M.

    1998-01-01

    From a review of the fires that have occurred in nuclear power plants and the results of fire risk studies that have been completed over the last 17 years, we can conclude that internal fires in nuclear power plants can be an important contributor to plant risk. Methods and data are available to quantify the fire risk. These methods and data have been subjected to a series of reviews and detailed scrutiny and have been applied to a large number of plants. There is no doubt that we do not know everything about fire and its impact on a nuclear power plants. However, this lack of knowledge or uncertainty can be quantified and can be used in the decision making process. In other words, the methods entail uncertainties and limitations that are not insurmountable and there is little or no basis for the results of a fire risk analysis fail to support a decision process

  19. Risk Insights Gained from Fire Incidents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kazarians, Mardy; Nowlen, Steven P.

    1999-01-01

    There now exist close to 20 years of history in the application of Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) for the analysis of fire risk at nuclear power plants. The current methods are based on various assumptions regarding fire phenomena, the impact of fire on equipment and operator response, and the overall progression of a fire event from initiation through final resolution. Over this same time period, a number of significant fire incidents have occurred at nuclear power plants around the world. Insights gained from US experience have been used in US studies as the statistical basis for establishing fire initiation frequencies both as a function of the plant area and the initiating fire source.To a lesser extent, the fire experience has also been used to assess the general severity and duration of fires. However, aside from these statistical analyses, the incidents have rarely been scrutinized in detail to verify the underlying assumptions of fire PRAs. This paper discusses an effort, under which a set of fire incidents are being reviewed in order to gain insights directly relevant to the methods, data, and assumptions that form the basis for current fire PRAs. The paper focuses on the objectives of the effort, the specific fire events being reviews methodology, and anticipated follow-on activities

  20. Calibration of the CAFE-3D fire code with controlled indoor fire data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lopez, C.; Koski, J.A.; Khalil, I.; Suo-Anttila, A.

    2004-01-01

    The Container Analysis Fire Environment (CAFE) code contains a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) based fire model that has been successfully coupled to standard finite element computer codes. This coupling of CFD and finite element codes allows for a more realistic modeling of the thermal performance of objects engulfed in fire, which aids in the design and risk analysis of radioactive material packages. The CAFE fire model is based on a three-dimensional finite volume formulation of basic fire chemistry and fluid dynamics. This fire model includes a variable-density primitive-variable formulation of mass, momentum, energy and species equations. Multiple chemical species and soot formation are included in the combustion model. Thermal radiation is modeled as diffusive radiation transport inside the flame zone and as view-factor radiation outside the flame zone. Turbulence is modeled with an eddy diffusivity model. The soot model is coupled to the diffusive radiation formulation using the Rosseland approximation and the optical properties of soot. In order to verify and improve the accuracy of computers codes, they should be benchmarked against test data. This paper describes a set of experiments that were performed at the Fire Laboratory for Accreditation of Modeling by Experiment (FLAME) fire facility of Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. The paper also describes how the data collected from the experiments was used to calibrate and benchmark the CAFE-3D fire code. Detailed description of the tests performed and comparisons between the calculated results and the collected data from the experiments are provided

  1. Characterization of the Fire Regime and Drivers of Fires in the West African Tropical Forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dwomoh, F. K.; Wimberly, M. C.

    2016-12-01

    The Upper Guinean forest (UGF), encompassing the tropical regions of West Africa, is a globally significant biodiversity hotspot and a critically important socio-economic and ecological resource for the region. However, the UGF is one of the most human-disturbed tropical forest ecosystems with the only remaining large patches of original forests distributed in protected areas, which are embedded in a hotspot of climate stress & land use pressures, increasing their vulnerability to fire. We hypothesized that human impacts and climate interact to drive spatial and temporal variability in fire, with fire exhibiting distinctive seasonality and sensitivity to drought in areas characterized by different population densities, agricultural practices, vegetation types, and levels of forest degradation. We used the MODIS active fire product to identify and characterize fire activity in the major ecoregions of the UGF. We used TRMM rainfall data to measure climatic variability and derived indicators of human land use from a variety of geospatial datasets. We employed time series modeling to identify the influences of drought indices and other antecedent climatic indicators on temporal patterns of active fire occurrence. We used a variety of modeling approaches to assess the influences of human activities and land cover variables on the spatial pattern of fire activity. Our results showed that temporal patterns of fire activity in the UGF were related to precipitation, but these relationships were spatially heterogeneous. The pattern of fire seasonality varied geographically, reflecting both climatological patterns and agricultural practices. The spatial pattern of fire activity was strongly associated with vegetation gradients and anthropogenic activities occurring at fine spatial scales. The Guinean forest-savanna mosaic ecoregion had the most fires. This study contributes to our understanding of UGF fire regime and the spatio-temporal dynamics of tropical forest fires in

  2. Getting fire risk assessment right.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charters, David

    2012-06-01

    The NHS has one of the world's largest and most varied estates, which at any time accommodates many of the most dependent people in society. With around 6,000 fires occurring in NHS premises each year, its duty of care--and that of other healthcare providers--demands very close attention to fire safety. Here Dr David Charters BSc, PhD, CEng, FIFireE, MIMechE, MSFPE, director of Fire Engineering at BRE Global, an independent third party approvals body offering certification of fire, security, and sustainability products and services, examines the critical role of fire risk assessment, and explains why the process should provide the 'foundation' for effective fire safety measures.

  3. Fuel buildup and potential fire behavior after stand-replacing fires, logging fire-killed trees and herbicide shrub removal in Sierra Nevada forests

    Science.gov (United States)

    McGinnis, Thomas W.; Keeley, Jon E.; Stephens, Scott L.; Roller, Gary B.

    2010-01-01

    Typically, after large stand-replacing fires in mid-elevation Sierra Nevada forests, dense shrub fields occupy sites formerly occupied by mature conifers, until eventually conifers overtop and shade out shrubs. Attempting to reduce fuel loads and expedite forest regeneration in these areas, the USDA Forest Service often disrupts this cycle by the logging of fire-killed trees, replanting of conifers and killing of shrubs. We measured the effects of these treatments on live and dead fuel loads and alien species and modeled potential fire behavior and fire effects on regenerating forests. Sampling occurred in untreated, logged and herbicide-treated stands throughout the Sierra Nevada in four large fire areas 4–21 years after stand-replacing fires. Logging fire-killed trees significantly increased total available dead fuel loads in the short term but did not affect shrub cover, grass and forb cover, alien species cover or alien species richness. Despite the greater available dead fuel loads, fire behavior was not modeled to be different between logged and untreated stands, due to abundant shrub fuels in both logged and untreated stands. In contrast, the herbicide treatment directed at shrubs resulted in extremely low shrub cover, significantly greater alien species richness and significantly greater alien grass and forb cover. Grass and forb cover was strongly correlated with solar radiation on the ground, which may be the primary reason that grass and forb cover was higher in herbicide treated stands with low shrub and tree cover. Repeat burning exacerbated the alien grass problem in some stands. Although modeled surface fire flame lengths and rates of spread were found to be greater in stands dominated by shrubs, compared to low shrub cover conifer plantations, surface fire would still be intense enough to kill most trees, given their small size and low crown heights in the first two decades after planting.

  4. On fire

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Helle Rabøl

    The title of this paper: “On fire”, refers to two (maybe three) aspects: firstly as a metaphor of having engagement in a community of practice according to Lave & Wenger (1991), and secondly it refers to the concrete element “fire” in the work of the fire fighters – and thirdly fire as a signifier...

  5. Fire Power

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denker, Deb; West, Lee

    2009-01-01

    For education administrators, campus fires are not only a distressing loss, but also a stark reminder that a campus faces risks that require special vigilance. In many ways, campuses resemble small communities, with areas for living, working and relaxing. A residence hall fire may raise the specter of careless youth, often with the complication of…

  6. 36 CFR 1002.13 - Fires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Fires. 1002.13 Section 1002... § 1002.13 Fires. (a) The following are prohibited: (1) Lighting or maintaining a fire, except in... or lanterns in violation of established restrictions. (3) Lighting, tending, or using a fire, stove...

  7. Stratifying Tropical Fires by Land Cover: Insights into Amazonian Fires, Aerosol Loading, and Regional Deforestation

    Science.gov (United States)

    TenHoeve, J. E.; Remer, L. A.; Jacobson, M. Z.

    2010-01-01

    This study analyzes changes in the number of fires detected on forest, grass, and transition lands during the 2002-2009 biomass burning seasons using fire detection data and co-located land cover classifications from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We find that the total number of detected fires correlates well with MODIS mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) from year to year, in accord with other studies. However, we also show that the ratio of forest to savanna fires varies substantially from year to year. Forest fires have trended downward, on average, since the beginning of 2006 despite a modest increase in 2007. Our study suggests that high particulate matter loading detected in 2007 was likely due to a large number of savanna/agricultural fires that year. Finally, we illustrate that the correlation between annual Brazilian deforestation estimates and MODIS fires is considerably higher when fires are stratified by MODIS-derived land cover classifications.

  8. Effects of fire behavior on prescribed fire smoke characteristics: A case study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Einfeld, W.; Ward, D.E.; Hardy, C.

    1991-01-01

    In this chapter the authors report results from a study that was designed to derive an estimate of the total release of important pollutant species from a well-characterized fire. Ground and aircraft measurements were coordinated to yield a relatively complete picture of fire behavior and accompanying smoke production. Results from these measurements are then integrated over the lifetime of the fire and compared to less rigorous methods of estimating pollutant yield. Results suggest that knowledge of fuel consumption by phase of combustion (flaming vs. smoldering) is important in making accurate estimates of the characteristics of smoke emissions from individual fires. Contributing factors such as fuel type, fuel loading, and meteorological history vary significantly by region and should be taken into account when compiling estimates of fuel consumption rates during both flaming and smoldering fire conditions

  9. Spatial and temporal corroboration of a fire-scar-based fire history in a frequently burned ponderosa pine forest

    Science.gov (United States)

    Calvin A. Farris; Christopher H. Baisan; Donald A. Falk; Stephen R. Yool; Thomas W. Swetnam

    2010-01-01

    Fire scars are used widely to reconstruct historical fire regime parameters in forests around the world. Because fire scars provide incomplete records of past fire occurrence at discrete points in space, inferences must be made to reconstruct fire frequency and extent across landscapes using spatial networks of fire-scar samples. Assessing the relative accuracy of fire...

  10. 36 CFR 331.15 - Fires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 3 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Fires. 331.15 Section 331.15... INDIANA § 331.15 Fires. Open fires are prohibited unless confined to fireplaces, grills, or other facilities designed for this purpose as designated by the District Engineer. Fires shall not be left...

  11. Detection and Characterization of Low Temperature Peat Fires during the 2015 Fire Catastrophe in Indonesia Using a New High-Sensitivity Fire Monitoring Satellite Sensor (FireBird)

    OpenAIRE

    Atwood, Elizabeth C.; Englhart, Sandra; Lorenz, Eckehard; Halle, Winfried; Wiedemann, Werner; Siegert, Florian

    2016-01-01

    Vast and disastrous fires occurred on Borneo during the 2015 dry season, pushing Indonesia into the top five carbon emitting countries. The region was affected by a very strong El Ni?o-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate phenomenon, on par with the last severe event in 1997/98. Fire dynamics in Central Kalimantan were investigated using an innovative sensor offering higher sensitivity to a wider range of fire intensities at a finer spatial resolution (160 m) than heretofore available. The sen...

  12. Depositional characteristics of post-fire flooding following the Schultz Fire, San Francisco Peaks, Arizona

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karen A. Koestner; Mike D. Carroll; Daniel G. Neary; Peter E. Koestner; Ann Youberg

    2011-01-01

    During the summer of 2010 the northern Arizona mountain town of Flagstaff experienced three fires all blazing the same week in late-June, the height of the fire season for this region. By July 1st, all three were extinguished, but that was only the first phase of disturbance. The largest and most detrimental of these fires was the Schultz Fire. From June 20th to July...

  13. Modelling the effect of fire frequency on runoff and erosion in north-central Portugal using the revised Morgan-Morgan-Finney

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hosseini, Mohammadreza; Nunes, João Pedro; González Pelayo, Oscar; Keizer, Jan Jacob; Ritsema, Coen; Geissen, Violette

    2017-04-01

    Models can be valuable for foreseeing the hydrological effects of fires and to plan and execute post-fire management alternatives. In this study, the revised Morgan-Morgan-Finney (MMF) model was utilized to simulate runoff and soil erosion in recently burned maritime pine plantations with different fire regimes, in a wet Mediterranean area of north-central Portugal. The MMF model was adjusted for burned zones in order to accommodate seasonal patterns in runoff and soil erosion, attributed to changes in soil water repellency and vegetation recovery. The model was then assessed by applying it for a sum of 18 experimental micro-plots (0.25 m2) at 9 1x-burnt and 9 4x-burnt slopes, using both literature-based and calibrated parameters, with the collected data used to assess the robustness of each parameterization. The estimate of erosion was more exact than that of runoff, with a general Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency of 0.54. Slope angle and the soil's effective hydrological depth (which relies on upon vegetation and additionally crop cover) were found to be the primary parameters enhancing model results, and different hydrological depths were expected to separate between the two differentiating fire regimes. This relative analysis demonstrated that most existing benchmark parameters can be utilized to apply MMF in burnt pine regions with moderate severity to support post-fire management; however it also showed that further endeavours ought to concentrate on mapping soil depth and vegetation cover to enhance these simulations.

  14. Topographic and fire weather controls of fire refugia in forested ecosystems of northwestern North America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krawchuk, Meg A.; Haire, Sandra L.; Coop, Jonathan D.; Parisien, Marc-Andre; Whitman, Ellen; Chong, Geneva W.; Miller, Carol

    2016-01-01

    Fire refugia, sometimes referred to as fire islands, shadows, skips, residuals, or fire remnants, are an important element of the burn mosaic, but we lack a quantitative framework that links observations of fire refugia from different environmental contexts. Here, we develop and test a conceptual model for how predictability of fire refugia varies according to topographic complexity and fire weather conditions. Refugia were quantified as areas unburned or burned at comparatively low severity based on remotely sensed burn severity data. We assessed the relationship between refugia and a suite of terrain-related explanatory metrics by fitting a collection of boosted regression tree models. The models were developed

  15. Impact of fires on nuclear safety

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Skvarka, P.; Zmajkovic, I.

    1990-01-01

    Factors which are relevant with respect to fire hazard are summarized based on Revision 1 of IAEA Safety Guide No. 50-SG-D2, ''Fire Protection in Nuclear Power Plants'', of 1990. They include data acquisition, quantification of fire risks, assessment of adequacy of fire protection measures, modification of the fire protection system proposed. According to the above document, fire hazard analysis should define and document those parts of the fire protection system that must be present in order to secure safe operation of the nuclear power plant. (Z.M.). 2 appendices, 4 refs

  16. 76 FR 46330 - NUREG-1934, Nuclear Power Plant Fire Modeling Application Guide (NPP FIRE MAG); Second Draft...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-08-02

    ... NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION [NRC-2009-0568] NUREG-1934, Nuclear Power Plant Fire Modeling... 1023259), ``Nuclear Power Plant Fire Modeling Application Guide (NPP FIRE MAG), Second Draft Report for...), ``Nuclear Power Plant Fire Modeling Application Guide (NPP FIRE MAG), Second Draft for Comment,'' is...

  17. 36 CFR 261.5 - Fire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Fire. 261.5 Section 261.5... Prohibitions § 261.5 Fire. The following are prohibited: (a) Carelessly or negligently throwing or placing any ignited substance or other substance that may cause a fire. (b) Firing any tracer bullet or incendiary...

  18. 36 CFR 261.52 - Fire.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-07-01

    ... 36 Parks, Forests, and Public Property 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Fire. 261.52 Section 261.52... in Areas Designated by Order § 261.52 Fire. When provided by an order, the following are prohibited: (a) Building, maintaining, attending or using a fire, campfire, or stove fire. (b) Using an explosive...

  19. 50 CFR 27.95 - Fires.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... 50 Wildlife and Fisheries 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fires. 27.95 Section 27.95 Wildlife and... WILDLIFE REFUGE SYSTEM PROHIBITED ACTS Other Disturbing Violations § 27.95 Fires. On all national wildlife refuges persons are prohibited from the following: (a) Setting on fire or causing to be set on fire any...

  20. Previous fires moderate burn severity of subsequent wildland fires in two large western US wilderness areas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sean A. Parks; Carol Miller; Cara R. Nelson; Zachary A. Holden

    2014-01-01

    Wildland fire is an important natural process in many ecosystems. However, fire exclusion has reduced frequency of fire and area burned in many dry forest types, which may affect vegetation structure and composition, and potential fire behavior. In forests of the western U.S., these effects pose a challenge for fire and land managers who seek to restore the ecological...