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Whistleblower Gerald W. Brown. Mr. Brown exposed deficiencies in passive fire protection measures used in nuclear construction in the United States and Canada.

Gerald W. Brown is an American whistleblower, who concerned himself with deficiencies in passive fire protection systems in US and Canadian nuclear power plants.

Gerald W. Brown was the original whistleblower of the Thermo-Lag 330-1 scandal, which involved an endothermic material manufactured by Thermal Science Inc., now also doing business as Nu-Chem, Inc., of St. Louis, Missouri, still marketing product under the Thermo-Lag name. Thermo-Lag was used to provide circuit integrity to wiring running between the nuclear reactors and the control rooms within the power stations. The purpose of the circuit integrity designs was to ensure that in the event of a fire, the wiring remain operable, so that operators could shut down the reactors in order to prevent a nuclear meltdown.

Mr. Brown discovered and disclosed to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that the fire testing used to qualify Thermo-Lag was not adequate. By the time of the disclosure, many licensed and operating plants had already installed this product. The NRC as well as a number of its affected licensees confirmed in fire testing that the installed configurations did not provide the mandated minimum level of protection and promptly communicated this fact to its licensees, who were subsequently required to remedy the situation by either replacing the product with one that did work or by overlaying the product with one that did. It also established a new and more stringent test procedure for qualifying circuit integrity products.

The NRC does not mandate the use of product certification, as is commonplace in commercial, industrial or residential construction products of this type.

The NRC fined Thermal Science Inc. $900,000.00 for its part of the problem but wound up settling out of court for $300,000.00 with neither side yielding to the other side’s point of view.

Faulty Sakno Silicone Foam Firestop Installation in Calgary Sewage treatment plant in the 1980's, to seal opening above a fire door in a cast concrete fire separation. This was a winter installation with outdoor temperatures near -40°C. Now and then, the exterior door was left open, which affected ambient indoor temperatures and thus the "snapping" process of the foam, whose density varied widely within the seal. Silicone foam, once mixed, evolves hydrogen gas, which bubbles, thus creating a foam, as the liquids turn to solid rubber.

Gerald W. Brown also highlighted issues with the use of unbounded silicone foam firestops in the United States as well as Canada. In Canada, he further pointed out inadequacies with regards to unbounded circuit integrity measures in Canadian nuclear power plants, which included single-sided fire barriers for three-dimensional cable trays. Not unlike the NRC, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission also does not require product certification that is mandatory for non-nuclear construction.

Gerald W. Brown founded the Fire Protection Defense League, as a front for other whistleblowers concerned with fire protection issues. Through the help of Canadian members, FPDL and Gerald W. Brown publicised generic fire protection deficiencies in Canada concerning firestops and grease duct systems.

Gerald W. Brown spent much of his career as a firestop contractor. Since becoming a whistleblower, his fire protection work came to an end. He has since been involved in farming and is now working on a project involving the commercial uses of peat and wood pellets as energy sources in Minnesota.

• Proceedings of the Select Committee on Ontario Hydro Nuclear Affairs involving fire protection items raised by Gerald W. Brown
• Nuclear Information and Resource Service Publication about Thermo-Lag Issue, identifying Gerald W. Brown as source Nuclear Information and Resource Service
• Alternet.org treatise on nuclear fire protection issues, identifying Gerald W. Brown as the original source
• NRC document on circuit integrity and Thermo-Lag issue
• 103rd Congress Document on Thermo-Lag problem
• NIRS Reactorwatch
• ccnr.org Representative Ed Markey's Statements concerning flammable firestops
• Garden State EnviroNet Statement on NRC Silicone Foam Issues
• USNRC Information Notice 88-56