French RSE-M and RCC-MR code appendices for flaw analysis: Presentation of the fracture parameters calculation-Part I: General overview

Two French nuclear codes include flaw assessment procedures: the RSE-M code 'Rules for In-service Inspection of Nuclear Power Plant Components' and the RCC-MR code 'Design and Construction rules for mechanical components of FBR nuclear islands and high temperature applications'. An important effort of development of these analytical methods has been made for the last 10 years in the frame of a collaboration between CEA, EDF and AREVA-NP, and in the frame of R and D actions involving CEA and IRSN. These activities have led to a unification of the common methods of the two codes. The calculation of fracture mechanics parameters, and in particular the stress intensity factor KI and the J integral, has been widely developed for industrial configurations. All developments have been integrated in the 2005 edition of RSE-M and in the 2007 edition of RCC-MR. This series of articles is composed of five parts: this first one presents an overview of the methods proposed in the RCC-MR and RSE-M codes. Parts II-IV provide compendia for specific components: plates (part II), pipes (part III) and elbows (part IV). Finally, part V presents the validation elements of the methods, with details on the process followed for their development and on evaluation of the accuracy of the proposed analytical methods. This first article of the series presents an overview of the calculation of KI and J in these two codes and describes briefly the defect assessment analyses. Specific details in the Appendix A16 of RCC-MR (LBB procedure and creep analyses) are also introduced in this article