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Investigation into the toxicity of combustion products for CR/EPR cables based on aging period

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Abstract

The toxicity of combustion product gas of CR/EPR cables, which are widely used in nuclear power plants, has been investigated according to the aging period. The cable specimens were prepared by thermal acceleration aging method, from non-aged to 40-year-old cables at spans of 10 years. The cable sheath and insulation materials were tested separately. The test was conducted in accordance with the Naval Engineering Standard 713 standard code, which measures the amount of 13 exhaust toxic gases when 1 gram of the test specimen is burnt. The toxicity index and the amount of emission gases were varied irregularly with respect to the aging period, and the reason for this result could not be clearly explained due to the lack of information on cable material. However, the reason could be qualitatively estimated to have two conflicting effects: (1) Reduced flame retardant performance as the devolatilization process proceeded over time, and (2) the enhanced stabilization of double bonds between carbon compounds and flame retardant elements, such as chlorine or bromine, as the cable is aged. The toxicity of the accelerated aging period of 20 years was much higher than that of non-aged cables, which signifies increased probability of fire risks of aged cables from the viewpoint of toxicity. Furthermore, when comparing the adjusted toxicity index calculated without CO, CO2, and NOx emission, it can be clearly determined that the average toxicity index of aged cables is higher than that of non-aged cables. Thus, in conclusion, human hazardousness of a cable fire increases from the viewpoint of toxicity of emission gases as it deteriorates, so safety regulations or maintenance guides for old nuclear power plants should be reinforced considering this toxicity variation. The results obtained from this study can be used to improve the reliability of operator manual actions for safety-shutdown and fire-suppression activities and to provide basic information for studies on fire suppression.

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Abbreviations

q :

Temperature rise rate (oC/min)

T p :

Peak point temperature (oC)

E α :

Activation energy (kcal/mol)

R:

Gas constant expressed as 8.314 J·mol−1·K−1

C i :

Corrected concentration of gas (ppm)

m :

Test specimen mass (g)

V :

Volume of the test chamber (m3).

C e :

Concentration of the detected harmful components in the detected gas products

C f :

Fatal concentration to people after 30 minutes of expo sure (ppm)

CR:

Poly-chloroprene rubber

EPR:

Ethylene propylene rubber

TG:

Thermogravimetry

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Nuclear Safety Research Program through the Korea Foundation of Nuclear Safety (Ko-FONS) using the financial resources granted by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) of the Republic of Korea (No. 1705002).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Safety Engineering, College of Engineering, Incheon National University, Incheon, 22012, Korea

    Hyun Jeong Seo, Nam Kyun Kim & Min Chul Lee

  2. Department of Industrial Safety Management, Suncheon Jeil College, Suncheon, 57997, Korea

    Nam Kyun Kim

  3. Research Institute for Engineering and Technology, Incheon National University, Incheon, 22012, Korea

    Min Chul Lee

  4. Department of Reactor System Evaluation, Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon, 34142, Korea

    Sang Kyu Lee & Young Seob Moon

Authors
  1. Hyun Jeong Seo
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Correspondence to Min Chul Lee.

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Recommended by Editor Yong Tae Kang

Min Chul Lee received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Korea, in 2003 and a Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from Seoul National University in 2014. Currently, he is a Professor at Incheon National University and Head of the Combustion and Fire Engineering Laboratory. He has worked on a number of joint government and industry projects to develop next-generation, low-emission, fuel-flexible gas turbine combustor and fire safety technology.

Hyun Jeong Seo received her M.S. in Architecture Engineering from Soongsil University, Korea, in 2015. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate at Incheon National University. Her research topic is combus-tion and fire safety engineering.

Nam Kyun Kim received his Ph.D. in Safety Engineering from Incheon National University in Incheon, Korea, in 2014. Currently, he is a Professor at Suncheon Jeil College. He has worked in the fire protection sector and has been involved in numerous national projects. He has studied the inhalation toxicity of combustion products (particulate matter, gas).

Young Seob Moon received his B.S. in Bio-Chemical Engineering from Korea University, Korea, in 2007. Now, he is a researcher at KINS (Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety). He has been an R&D project researcher related to fire protection in the nuclear field.

Sang Kyul Lee received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Kookmin University, Korea, in 1997. Currently, he is a Principal Researcher at KINS (Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety). He has been R&D project manager related to fire protection in the nuclear field.

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Seo, H.J., Kim, N.K., Lee, M.C. et al. Investigation into the toxicity of combustion products for CR/EPR cables based on aging period. J Mech Sci Technol 34, 1785–1794 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0340-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-020-0340-z

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