There has been limited research dealing with water film formation from fire protection systems, thus a study has begun to characterize these water films. This in turn requires a determination of the amount and distribution of water deposited on the fissile arrays by the sprinklers. Hence, before a sprinkler system can be authorized, it is necessary to evaluate the reactivity effects of more » water sprinklers on arrays of fuel components. This would affect nuclear criticality safety because moderating materials (water, plastic, and paper) are currently limited in arrays of fuel components to ensure subcriticality. The primary nuclear criticality safety concern with overhead automatic fire sprinkler systems is the coating effect (film) as it spreads over the fissile material surface. The study of water film thickness effects from automatic fire sprinklers is necessary because DOE recently mandated the use of automatic fire protection for the Fuel Fabrication Facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS). This paper discusses the development of methods and experimental procedure, preliminary results, and the future program. There has been limited research dealing with water film formation from fire protection systems thus, a study has begun to characterize these water films. This in turn requires a determination of the amount and distribution of water deposited on the arrays by the sprinklers. Hence, before a sprinkler system can be authorized, it is necessary to evaluate more » the reactivity effects of water sprinklers on arrays of fuel components. The study of water film thickness effects from automatic fire sprinklers is necessary because the US Department of Energy recently mandated the use of automatic fire protection for the fuel fabrication facility at the Savannah River Site (SRS). After all these factors are considered, it appears feasible that automatic sprinkler systems can be effectively used for fire control along longwall faces if warranted by the incidence of fires. Utilization of a 2-inch diameter flexible high pressure hose should meet space, mobility, and safety constraints. The typical water supply to a longwall face should be adequate for an automatic sprinkler system. Other parameters that were considered in the feasibility study were sprinkler durability, water supply, and water delivery on the longwall face. An assessment of whether automatic sprinklers can withstand the high static water pressure in deep underground coal mines showed that although commercial sprinklers may be able to withstand high static pressures, they may not provide the same reliability and safety factor as when used aboveground at or below their rated pressure. The use more » of directional sprinklers at airflows of 300 fpm and greater were able to compensate for the effect of ventilation on the water spray pattern and the sprinkler activating downstream to extinguish the fire. Other test results indicated that as the airflow increased, the size of fire needed to activate an automatic sprinkler system also increased and that sprinklers located directly above the fire did not activate. The results showed delays in activation and shifts in total water coverage areas and water density distribution patterns as ventilation increased. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of ventilation on sprinkler discharge patterns and activation characteristics. The US Bureau of Mines conducted a feasibility study on the use of automatic sprinkler protection for fire control along a longwall face of an underground coal mine.

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