DiaNuke.org

My interest in fire safety was sparked years earlier, when I learned about the 1975 fire at the Browns Ferry nuclear power plant in Tennessee. That fire grew out of routine maintenance work on the buildings that housed the reactor. Despite their formidable size, the containment structures of many nuclear power plants, designed to corral dangerous radiation in the event of an accident, are punctured by vents and ducts. These penetration points are the weak spots that can undermine an otherwise airtight containment shell. A leak in one of these areas is a significant problem.