General Presentation of French Codified Flaw Evaluation Procedure: RSE-M

The RSE-M Code “Rules for In-service Inspection of Nuclear Power Plant Components” defines the requirements for in-service inspection of French Pressurized Water Reactor’s. The scope covered by the RSE-M is all the surveillance and in-service inspection program for safety class components with a special attention to class 1 components. A large concern for this code is the flaw evaluation procedure for an in-service inspection defect. Generally the defect has to be repaired, but in order to postpone the repair or to accept some small defect a complete procedure is proposed for safety class components: fatigue crack initiation, fatigue crack growth, brittle and ductile rupture. All the details and the validation limits are included in non-mandatory appendices. The methods are usable for nuclear and non-nuclear pressure equipment. Partial safety factors and material properties are more PWR oriented. The paper presents the different parts of the procedure, their validations and major on-going developments.