Basic fracture toughness requirements for ferritic materials of nuclear class pressure retaining equipment in NPP

In this paper, theory basis on cold brittleness and anti-brittle fracture design of ferritic materials are introduced summarily and fracture toughness requirements for ferritic materials in ASME code for nuclear safety class pressure retaining equipment in NPP are summarized and evaluated. The results show that notch impact toughness requirements for materials relate to nuclear safety class of materials so as to ensure that brittle fracture of retaining pressure boundary in NPP can not occur. (authors)