Condition of Fire Protection and Ammonia Safety Systems at Coal Plants

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.