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Past and Present
Nuclear Power Plant fire officers: fast, punctual, and competent

The fire on 22 June at the Paks Nuclear Power Plant drew the attention of the local and national press again to the nuclear power plant fire service activities. We haven't had any doubt about their high level of competence and qualification even so far, however their prompt, punctual availability and operation at the fire nearby the second block have proved that their theoretical and practical training and wasn't in vain; and they are capable of applying the knowledge they have acquired in the last few years.
Our readers have been regularly informed about the nuclear power plant fire officers' achievements in the local, national and international competitions in columns of Paksi Hírnök, and we don't want to hide the fact that we have twofold aim to fulfil. On the one hand, we would like to call the attention to the fact that there is a fire service of national, even international reputation in Paks; and we ought to respect and appreciate them. On the other hand, we would like to draw the attention that we shouldn't deal with the nuclear power plant fire officers only in case of incidents, but in time of 'peace' we should as well provide information about their success, perhaps occasional failures, their everyday difficulties and trials in work.
If you make up your mind to get information about the power plant fire service operation and work, you will find out at the very beginning of your research that the history of Paks Nuclear Power Plant and the past of the power plant fire service is closely connected.
First the news that the Government of Hungary and the Government of Sovietunion were considering the construction of a powerful nuclear power plant appeared in 1966.The agreement was signed on 28 December, 1966 after the initial talks, however the site of the nuclear power plant was marked out on 12 April, 1967. The work on the cooling water channel starting two years later was stopped (due to energy policy considerations). During the construction starting again in1973 projects of big volume were carried out, and it was not exceptional that at its peak twelve thousand people worked at the construction. The work processes at the different sites made the experts realise that more care should be taken of safety and labour safety regulations. It was especially true in the fields that were highly emphasised by fire-protection regulations; it was common to weld simultaneously at more than a thousand sites, or to store inflammable materials in several different places. So the question was there; would the voluntary fire station of Paks and the three-member authority in Paks be able to meet the requirements? Since the answer to the question was no, it was decided to construct a barrack as the part of the project, and at the same time the number of the future headquarters was determined. So the personnel started to train and enter service, and after a while as a result a small team, - provisionally accommodated-, started to operate in April 1980. At the beginning they just checked and supervised the sites and gave notices to those who committed offence. The next important date is 21 July 1981; the construction of the town fire station was completed, which served as the unit base onwards, and soon a company fire service was organised with 72 members. Meanwhile it turned out, before the physical start-up of the first block, that it was indispensable to have an official fire service available, which could start extinguishing the fire without delay in case of fire alarm. Taking into consideration the facts they came to the conclusion that the fire service must be in the vicinity of the nuclear power plant, or rather at the site. Since the number of firemen status in Hungary was increased in 1981, the Paks fire service was allowed to have 37 positions, this way it was possible for the town fire service to do 'twin-service', and transfer one team on duty to the site of the nuclear power plant.
The next important milestone in the history of the power plant fire service is 1990, when the 38- member plant fire department was put into operation, (the head of which was Péter Bőhm), which has been providing with the help of its 64-member personnel the fire security operations for the nuclear power plant since 1992. They were reorganised from official fire service into facility fire service in June 1994 assigned to perform fire- and loss liquidation, and operational emergency incidents prevention profiles. After long discussions the decision was made that a full-time fire service was to be organised inside the Atomic Ltd. organisation under the leadership of the chief and deputy chief commanders, who belong to the Paks NPP Ltd. For the last few years the fire service has not only kept being first in different competitions but also become the first among the many fire services in the world to acquire the MSZ EN ISO 9002 standard qualification. After one-year operation, in the end of 2000 the qualifying authority performed the supervision of the system, and as a result the fire service was authorised to wear the emblem of the quality system for another year.

Imre Miklós
Paksi Hírnök: 32nd issue 09. August, 2001