Experience in applying French regulation and the RCC-M code to the construction of the reactor coolant system of pressurized water reactors

The codes and standards, for mechanical components, established in support of the French PWR NSSS program, have been steadily improved and adjustments were made for their application, throughout the succession of the different series of plant unit. This paper looks at the factors that have driven these modifications and adjustments. Three main groups of factors are examined: feedback from manufacturing experience and progress in manufacturing technology, feedback from startup and operating experience in nondestructive examination and transient monitoring, and adjustment to the national and international industrial environments. The paper ends with some considerations of the perspectives openend up by the common French-German nuclear island project. (orig.)