[en] An analysis to establish whether or not a leak-before-break concept would apply to the LOFT lower plenum injection nozzle is described. The analysis encompassed the structure from the inlet side of valve V-2170 to the lower plenum nozzle-to-reactor vessel weld on the left side of the emergency core cooling system (ECCS). The defect that was assumed to exist was of such a size that the probability of its being missed by the applicable inspection technique was near zero. The Inconel 600 nozzle forging with an initial assumed defect size of 0.64 cm (0.25 in.) deep would behave as follows: (1) the axially oriented defect would result in leak before rupture (the number of cycles to rupture was 11,000), (2) the circumferentially oriented defect would result in a rupture before leak. The number of cycles to failure would be in excess of 14,000. Based on the conservative assumption that the thermal stresses were membrane stresses as opposed to a bending stress, the following were found. For the Inconel 82 weld metal (thickness of 1.3 cm [0.53 in.]) and AISI 316 SST valve body, with an initial assumed defect of 0.25 cm (0.1 in.), the crack would grow through the thickness in a minimum of 3950 cycles and to a critical rupture crack length of 5.1 cm (2.0 in.) in an additional 80 cycles. The Inconel 82 weld metal at the shell body (thickness of 9.7 cm or 3.8 in.) with an assumed defect 1.3 cm (0.5 in.) deep would fail in 334 cycles. Calculations made assuming a linear stress gradient instead of the above-mentioned flat distribution through the wall indicated that the number of stress cycles increased to 2200