Hydro Generation Fire Protection

The likelihood of fire is lower at hydro plants than at coal plants, but hydro plants are not without fire risk. Hydroelectric stations share many of the same fire hazards as coal plants, such as oil-filled transformers, electrical cables and switchgear, air-cooled generators, and large quantities of combustible hydraulic oil. Hydro plants are typically an underground/underwater windowless structure. In many ways, a hydro plant poses more extreme safety issues and rescue risks, because of limited building access, lack of natural lighting, and embedded structures, all of which increase the potential a fire on a higher level will trap workers on a lower level.During our review, TVA indicated fire protection systems and equipment were generally maintained and in good condition, with some exceptions. Additionally, Hydro Generation was making improvements to condition assessments of fire protection equipment. However, we found the following: (1) risk assessment reports indicated hydro plants could use more fire protection equipment, and additional documentation of inspection, testing, and maintenance were still needed; (2) TVA indicated fire drills were being conducted on a routine basis, but were not being documented as required, fire incidents were not being tracked, and lessons learned were not consistently shared; (3) TVA had not fully implemented the Emergency Response Liaison (ERL) role; and (4) the increased risk from replacing the ERL role had not been considered in TVA's enterprise risk process. We made recommendations to management to address the findings.