A Weighted Scoring Model with One-Vote Veto Mechanism for Firefighting Capability Assessment of Dedicated Fire Brigades at Nuclear Power Plants

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-783-5_12How to use a DOI?

Keywords

nuclear power plant fire brigade; capability assessment; weighted scoring model; one-vote veto mechanism; Fire Hazard Analysis (FHA); dual-track scoring

Abstract

Conventional firefighting capability assessment methods predominantly rely on linear additive scoring, which is ill-suited to the radiological hazards, safety-system protection constraints, and the non-negotiable regulatory bottom lines that characterize dedicated fire brigades at nuclear power plants (NPPs). To address this gap, this paper proposes a quantitative assessment model integrating weighted scoring with a one-vote veto mechanism. The model employs a dual-track architecture: a deduction-based Category A compliance score (maximum 100 points) and a cumulative Category B incentive score (maximum 20 points), overlaid with a discrete veto layer to form a three-tier piecewise-based judgment structure of “compliance baseline — excellence incentive — veto cutoff.” The veto mechanism defines five non-compensable conditions: v₁ (failure to maintain 24-hour duty system), v₂ (annual comprehensive drill count below regulatory minimum), v₃ (emergency plan failing to define reactor safety shutdown boundaries), v₄ (triggering of any safety-critical deduction item), and v₅ (fire station location or response capability failing to meet regulatory requirements). Any single veto condition, when triggered, automatically downgrades the final grade to Unqualified regardless of aggregate scores. The model encompasses 4 first-level indicators, 26 third-level indicators (80 deduction items), and 5 Category B dimensions (48 scoring items). Indicator weights were determined through the Delphi method with a panel of 15 experts (comprising senior NPP fire protection engineers, nuclear safety regulators, fire brigade commanders, radiological protection specialists, and human factors experts), achieving a Kendall coefficient of concordance W = 0.71 (p < 0.01), indicating strong expert consensus. Field validation conducted over 5 days at a coastal four-unit PWR nuclear power plant in China yielded a Category A score of 84.8/100 (Grade: Qualified); weight analysis identified response time (relative weight 9.0%) as the highest-risk indicator. The current validation is limited to a single PWR plant; multi-plant validation covering a northern cold-region PWR, a BWR, and a small modular NPP is planned to establish the model’s generalizability across reactor types, climate conditions, and plant scales. The proposed model provides a standardized, quantifiable methodological framework for capability assessment of dedicated NPP fire brigades.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Junjie He
AU  - Zihao Mu
AU  - Juntao Yang
AU  - Qize He
AU  - Yu He
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/30
TI  - A Weighted Scoring Model with One-Vote Veto Mechanism for Firefighting Capability Assessment of Dedicated Fire Brigades at Nuclear Power Plants
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 2nd International Conference on Resilient City and Safety Engineering (ICRCSE 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 110
EP  - 125
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-783-5_12
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-783-5_12
ID  - He2026
ER  -