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Investigation of combustion, smoke, and toxicity characteristics of flame-retardant and fiber-optic cables used in nuclear power plants

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Abstract

The combustion, smoke emission, and toxic gas emission characteristics of four types of flame-retardant cables and two types of fiber-optic cables were investigated. The thickness, flame retardancy, and volatile components of the polymeric materials constituting the cables mainly influenced their released heat and smoke emissions. The volatile components increased the magnitude of the first peak of heat release and shortened the interval between the time to ignition and first heat release. The thickness and flame retardancy caused the formation of a char layer, which caused the peak values associated with the secondary heat release and smoke production. Fiber-optic cables with zero halogens exhibited a lower flame retardancy than that of the flame-retardant cables as they were completely pyrolyzed early but emited small amounts of smoke and toxic gases. By considering trade-off between flame retardancy and toxicity, the improvements in fire protection strategies and amendment of cable design criteria are recommended.

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Abbreviations

NPP :

Nuclear power plant

FR :

Flame-retardant

CCT :

Cone calorimeter test

TTI :

Time to ignition

HRR :

Heat release rate

THR :

Total heat release

SPR :

Smoke production rate

TSP :

Total amount of smoke production

FR-C :

Flame-retardant class 1E

FR-NC :

Flame-retardant non-class 1E

ZH-OF :

Zero halogen optic fiber

TI :

Toxicity index

PHRR :

Peak of HRR

tPHRR :

Time to PHRR

Δ t P-I :

Time difference between TTI and first tPHRR

PSPR :

Peak of SPR

tPSPR :

Time to PSPR

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Nuclear Safety Research Program through the Korea Foundation of Nuclear Safety (KOFONS) using financial resources granted by the Nuclear Safety and Security Commission (NSSC) of the Republic of Korea [grant number 1705002]. This work was also supported by an Incheon National University Research Grant (2022).

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Authors and Affiliations

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

    Min Ho Kim, Seok Hui Lee, Seung Yeon Jeong & Min Chul Lee

  2. Department of Reactor System Evaluation, Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon, 34112, Korea

    Sang Kyu Lee & Ju Eun Lee

  3. Convergence Safety System Research Center, Fire Insurers Laboratories of Korea, Yeoju, 12661, Korea

    Ji Hyun Kwark

  4. Fire Disaster Prevention Research Center, Incheon National University, Incheon, 22012, Korea

    Min Chul Lee

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  1. Min Ho Kim
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Correspondence to Min Chul Lee.

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Min Chul Lee received his M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in 2003 and his Ph.D. in Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering from Seoul National University in 2014. He is currently 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 the next generation of low-emission, fuel-flexible gas turbine combustors and fire safety technologies.

Min Ho Kim received his M.S. in Safety Engineering from Incheon National University. His research interest is combustion and fire safety engineering.

Seok Hui Lee performed her M.S. course in Safety Engineering from Incheon University. Her research interest is fire safety engineering and fire dynamics simulator.

Seung Yeon Jeong performed her M.S. course in Safety Engineering from Incheon National University. Her research interest is combustion and fire safety engineering and consequence analysis.

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

Ju Eun Lee received her M.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Seoul National University in 2017. She is currently a Senior Researcher at KINS (Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety). She is involved in regulatory work in the field of fire protection for nuclear power plants.

Ji Hyun Kwark received his M.S. and Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering in 1998 and 2004 from Pusan National University, respectively. He has been working for Fire Insurers Laboratories of Korea since 2004. His research interests are fire dynamics and fire protection equipments.

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Kim, M.H., Lee, S.H., Jeong, S.Y. et al. Investigation of combustion, smoke, and toxicity characteristics of flame-retardant and fiber-optic cables used in nuclear power plants. J Mech Sci Technol 37, 987–999 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0138-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12206-023-0138-x

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