Design and construction rules for mechanical components of high-temperature, experimental and fusion nuclear installations: the RCC-MRx Code last edition

Abstract

AFCEN Codes are used as reference for nuclear components in over 100 power plants currently in operation (92), under construction (21) or in planning stages (7) around the world. Information on how AFCEN Codes are used around the world during planning, design, construction and operation of different reactors is provided in detail here (afcen, 2020a). In addition to these formal applications of AFCEN Codes, they have also served in France for designing many other nuclear facilities like nuclear steam supply systems for marine propulsion. AFCEN is an organization of operators, manufacturers, equipment suppliers, organizations, consulting firms, training providers, actively involved not only in the French but also in the international nuclear industry. In 2018, AFCEN has more than 67 institutional members, representing more than 650 experts who contribute to the development and continuous improvement of AFCEN Codes at international level. In 2018, 126 nuclear power plants and experimental reactors were currently designed and/or built using AFCEN Codes. The international AFCEN association proposes a complete codes collection for the design and

Materials for Sustainable Nuclear Energy: A European Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda for All Reactor Generations

“…Crucially, the qualification is made before the material is used and the component installed, to enable the design of the component itself with sufficient a priori guarantee that it will respect performance and safety requirements. Qualification is thus the pre-requisite for the establishment of rules for the design of components, which are collected in design or performance codes [150][151][152][153][154], according to the best available engineering practices and scientific knowledge. The related research is defined as pre-normative, with reference to the goal of establishing norms and standards.…”

“…In some cases, however, for operation in environmental conditions and parameter ranges that concern specific new systems, the design codes may fall short and require extensions. For instance the RCC-MRx design code [151], which was developed in France to support specifically the SFR technology, has been recognized as the most appropriate design code for all European GenIV prototypes. It covers the design and construction of components for reactors that operate at high temperature, including auxiliaries, mechanisms for examination and handling and irradiation devices.…”

316L(N) Creep Modeling with Phenomenological Approach and Artificial Intelligence Based Methods

“…Given the wide range of conditions defined in the code, RCC-MRx [7] has been selected as the source for the required data. RCC-MRx covers consistently the design and construction of components for high temperature, research, and fusion reactors [8][9][10][11][12]. In RCC-MRx, separate analytical expressions are provided for the primary and secondary creep regimes.…”