A methodology was developed to probabilistically evaluate the vulnerability of nuclear power plants to fire damage. This paper reviews the methodology from the standopint of its relationship to probabilistic risk assessment in general, rather than focusing on the details of any particular project. To understand the framework of this particular methodology, one must understand certain elements of nuclear reactor safety, particularly the use of redundancy and diversity in shutdown systems. Key considerations include which shutdown systems could be damaged by a fire and the probability that the remaining undamaged systems will not be useable due to something unrelated to the fire event, such as mechanical failure or maintenance outage.
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