Nige, it was kind of you not to mention that it was I who told you that there were no recommendations about fuel tank protection! It is, in fact, true that there were no recommendations, because, as Mr P's quote says, the Board's unnamed expert asserted that protection would not have prevented the explosion of tank 7. Also, that meant that, as far as I know, the subject was not mentioned at the brief - and questions afterwards were severely time-limited.
Without having expert knowledge of the dynamics of fuel explosions, I could see why the 'expert' might have said that - since this was not a case where the explosion resulted from something started within the tank, but as a result of gross overheating from outside the tank.
It was clever of Mr P to find the reference - there are 156 pages of the report, not all of them very easy reading! But should you want to check it out yourself
http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Ab...odMr2Xv230.htm
Finally, just to complete Mr P's quote, it comes in a paragraph titled
Lack of Fire Detection in No 7 Tank Dry Bay
and the sentence after Mr P's quote (the final sentence of the para) reads
The Board believes that the lack of a fire detection and suppression system within the N0 7 tank dry bay was a Contributory Factor in the loss of XV230.
airsound