There are a large number of laws, ordinances, standards and guidelines that apply in the case of fire protection. It is not always possible or advisable for them to be implemented in power plant construction, as they do not allow for the specific features of power plant engineering. In such cases, approval must be obtained from the relevant authorities for the necessary relaxation of requirements.

The VGB-Guideline R108e aim to form a foundation that operators can use to compile their own fire protection strategies, tailored to suit the particular plant in question. For this reason, a number of suitable steps are given as examples. It would be impossible to provide a universal fire protection strategy that applies in all cases as each power plant, in fact often each unit of a power plant, displays different individual characteristics.

In all of these considerations, the means used should always be kept in proportion. The most important factor here is the protection of persons. Beyond this, the amount of effort that should be devoted to fire protection is defined by the size of the fire load and the importance of the plant that is being protected.

(2008/2011)