Inside the French Association for Design, Construction and Surveillance Rules of Nuclear Power Plant Components (AFCEN) a set of 7 Codes has been developed and are periodically updated.
This paper will review the major improvements in the past 3 years of the mechanical component codes:
RCC-M: Rules for Design and Construction of Mechanical Components for PWR Nuclear Islands
RCC-MRx: Rules for Design and Construction of Mechanical Components for High Temperature, Experimental and fusion reactors
RSE-M: Rules for surveillance and ISI of Mechanical Components for PWR Nuclear Islands
After a general overview of the way of developments of these Codes, the paper will present the major improvements of these Codes since 2007, many of them have a complete new edition issued in 2010 or 2012.
The conclusion of the paper will present the major objectives and topics of development of these Codes for new international project under the pressure of Code Harmonization by Regulators (MDEP) Standards Development Organization Board (SDO) and Industry organization (CORDEL).
