Safety Evaluation for Operation of Browns Ferry, Units 1 and 2, Following the March 22, 1975 Fire (NUREG-0061, Initial Report)

On March 22, 1975, a fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant caused a shutdown of Units 1 and 2. The facility subsequent to the shutdown was found to have incurred substantial damage to power, control, and instrumentation wiring. All three units are presently in the shutdown condition with the fuel removed from the vessels for Units 1 and 2; the Unit 3 reactor is still under construction with operation for that unit scheduled for early 1976. An overall program has been developed by the licensee delineating the necessary activities required to restore damaged portions of the facility to a safe level so that operation of Units I and 2 can be resumed. This program has been described in "Plan for Evaluation, Repair and Return to Service of Browns Ferry Units 1 and 2 (March 22, 1975 Fire)" dated April 13, 1975, and revisions thereto up to and including Revision 37 (the Plan).
As a result of the fire an NRC review program was developed consisting of three major and parallel elements. The first element was the investigation conducted by the Office of Inspection and Enforcement (OI&E) of events leading to the fire, fire fighting efforts, sequence of operational events and problems experienced with the nuclear steam supply system, interaction between units, and the response of TVA, and State and Local authorities. This phase of the NRC program has been completed and the results are given in the OI&E Investigation Report of the March 22, 1975 Fire at the Browns Ferry Nuclear Station, dated July 25, 1975.
The second element of the program, being performed by the Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation has as its objectives (1) to assure that a safe plant configuration was attained and is being maintained subsequent to the fire, (2) to assure safety during removal of fuel from Units 1 and 2, (3) to assure plant safety during fire damage removal and restoration, and (4) to determine that the design changes that are required for restoration of these plants to operational status are acceptable. (See Attachment 1 for Chronology)
The third element of the NRC program consists of the review being performed by the Special Browns Ferry Review Group established on March 26, 1975. Efforts of this review group will be to prepare for NRC, recommendations to change, as required, NRC policies, procedures, and technical requirements in regard to fire protection at nuclear 'power plants. The Review Group's report is anticipated about March 1, 1976.