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Fire Preventing in a Power Station Power stations are among the most significant features of todays economy and lives of people. This is because most activities that go on today in public and in organizations depend on power supplies and if the supplies are stopped or in shortage some vital tasks may not be performed and as a consequence major losses and disasters may occur. There are various kinds of power stations such as coal fire power stations, nuclear power stations, hydro power stations and some others as well. In this report we are going to discuss the importance of fire preventing in the power stations.
Having in mind the importance of the power stations operating without problems we may face one of the causes for it not to do so. Among many various causes of these problems we may take up the case of fire in the power station. Electricity is the life line of the economy as well as of the society. Any disruption in the supply of electricity causes not only loss to the economy, but also creates hardship to the human beings as every aspect of human life is connected with electricity.
As such, any disaster, whether natural or otherwise in the power sector has great impact and needs special attention for dealing with such disasters. One of the techniques that deal with the prevention of the power facilities from disasters such as fire and others as well is the disaster management. The disaster management is a process by which the uncertainties that exist in potentially hazardous situations can be minimized and public safety maximized. The goal is to limit the cost of emergencies or disasters through the implementation of a series of strategies. Organized planning, decision making, and assignment of available resources are must to mitigate and recover from the effects of any disaster.
The goal of disaster management is to save the system from collapse. Disaster management involves planning and arrangements which are required to be established to bring together the endeavors of Government, voluntary and private agencies in a comprehensive and coordinated way. This helps in dealing with the whole spectrum of emergency needs including prevention, response and recovery. (Jersey, Stone) Disaster can occur due to any natural calamity, accident, failure of any equipment or human error. Also there are several environmental factors among which is fire in the various installations/ equipment that may cause problems to the power stations operations.
Fire is considered to be the second biggest source of disaster in power sector after the natural calamities. With the advancement of technology and computerized fire detection and monitoring systems being installed in power sector, the disaster on account of fire could not be totally eliminated. However, disaster due to fire normally remains localized to a particular power station until and unless tripping of the said power station causes disturbance in the transmission grid by way of over loading and leading to tripping of other power stations connected with the grid. (Jersey, Stone) Like natural calamities, fires are big threat and causes loss to human life and property. Thousands of crores of rupees are lost as a result of fire every year and render thousands homeless and crippled.
Fire accidents are often devastating. The incidents of major fires in industry are on the increase. Power Sector ranks high in major fires and the previous year (2001) recorded nine major accidents due to fire. The most common cause of the fires is known to be electrical short circuits and fire due to inflammable materials.
The recent fires in Patratu TPS and Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Plant resulted in great loss to the nation... These accidents not only cause the physical loss but also takes lot of time taken in restoration. This causes consequent loss in generation. (Finley) Efforts are generally being made in vital installations in Power Sector to prevent fire incidents by taking fire safety measures. Elaborate fire fighting system is installed to combat such eventualities and regular drills are performed, yet the recurrence of such incidents indicate that perhaps such measures are not being strictly enforced. A little negligence here and there and lack of awareness of threat from fires have often led to loss of life and property. An in-depth study and analysis of cause of fire incidents reveal that majority of these fire could perhaps be prevented and extent of damage minimized, had the fire safety measures been strictly implemented.
Early detection and swiftness in fire fighting can definitely turn a major disaster to minor accidents. The fire risks depend on size of fire, its growth rate & its spread potentiality. The various major fire risks in thermal power stations are transformers, cable galleries & shafts, coal handling-crusher houses & coal conveyors, fuel oil storage tanks, switchgear rooms, unit control rooms etc. Now let us look at some major tools that help power stations to prevent from fire. Automatic fire fighting system is provided for fire detection and protection of various facilities. Fixed fire protection system comprises of fire water reservoir and fire water pumps exclusively for fire protection purpose.
Fire water lines always remain pressurised upto various risks areas. The system employed is fully automatic and is actuated by detection system. The fire alarm system is used to give an alarm to fire personnel and staff in case of fire. All the transformers are provided with emulsifier system for protection and quartz oid bulb detectors for detection of fire. As the fire is detected in any of the transformers, the emulsifier system gets actuated automatically by getting signal from detection system. All cable galleries are provided with smoke detectors / linear heat sensor to detect fire.
In case of fire, water spray system is actuated by getting signal from detection system. Cable galleries are compartmentalized by providing partitions and penetration sealing system to contain fire and avoid spread of fire to adjacent areas. (Finley) The complete coal handling area and plant is protected by hydrant and spray system. The occurrence of fire in coal conveyors can cause potential loss since fire can move form one conveyor to another due to moving coal conveyors, so to tackle fire in coal conveyor, first step is to make the moving fire stationary. This is done by tripping the respective conveyor when fire occurs, so the fire detection system first trips the conveyor and then actuates the fire protection system.
Fuel Oil storage tanks is protected against fire. The fuel oil tanks are provided with spray system to keep the temperature of tanks low and foam system is provided to extinguish the fire if it occurs. The complete system is automatic and comes into operation by getting signal from detection system. In order to contain fire, partition walls in transformer yard, cable galleries, switchgear rooms are provided. Openings / penetration in walls / floors are sealed by fire retardant sealing system to avoid propagation of fire from one area to another. The system should be properly maintained and kept in functional state at all times so that it can act in the shortest possible time in case of fire.
To achieve this regular / periodic drills should be organized so that staff remains conversant with their duties. (Jersey, Stone) As a result of these actions performed properly the risk of having fire in power station is diminished but still is present. All these tasks need to be performed vary carefully and the controll over this care fullness can be achieved by the disaster management tools. Analysing the previous accidents may also be a useful tool to prevent new accidents. Therefore from the conceptual standpoint we may conclude that the task of preventing fire in power stations is very significant today and will be in the future and thus this area of activities has to be improving and modernized as the time goes. Bibliography: Kong Jersey, See Stone, National Department of Electricity, Disaster Management, from Business wire, 2002. Will Finley, Major Disasters in Power Sector, Eastern Economist, issue 43, 2002.
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Research essay sample on Fire Preventing In A Power Station
