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Condition of Fire Protection and Ammonia Safety Systems at Coal Plants

Report Information

Date Issued
Report Number
2024-17503
Report Type
Inspection / Evaluation
Description
The Office of the Inspector General conducted an evaluation to determine if fire‑protection and ammonia safety systems at TVA coal plants were being properly maintained and identified issues were being addressed.  We determined ammonia systems were being properly maintained and identified issues were being addressed.  However, we determined fire protection systems were not always properly maintained and issues were not always being addressed timely.  Specifically, (1) some inspections and testing of fire-protection systems were not performed as required, (2) some fire-protection system issues were not resolved timely, and (3) one fire-protection subsystem was missing safety locks at 1 plant, which was subsequently addressed.  In addition, we identified concerns with documentation, including incomplete fire-protection impairment documentation and discrepancies in the required frequency of inspections between the fire protection Standard Programs and Processes and site‑specific job plans, which provides details of each plant’s fire-protection subsystems. 
Joint Report
No
Agency Wide
Yes (agency-wide)
Questioned Costs
$0
Funds for Better Use
$0
View report on Oversight.gov

Recommendations

We recommend the Vice President, Power Operations, take steps to conduct all inspections and testing of fire-protection subsystems as required.

We recommend the Vice President, Power Operations, take steps to resolve fire-protection system issues in a timely manner.

We recommend the Vice President, Power Operations, take steps to assign a priority level to each impairment as required by Power Operations Standard Programs and Processes 18.119.

We recommend the Vice President, Power Operations, take steps to emphasize the importance of including all impairment information in the Fire Impairment Database.

We recommend the Vice President, Power Operations, take steps to review the differences between Power Operations Standard Programs and Processes 18.121 and the site-specific job plans and make changes as necessary to clarify the requirements.