Overview of RPV Sub-Project of PERFORM 60

PERFORM 60 (prediction of the effects of radiation for reactor pressure vessel and in-core materials using multi-scale modelling - 60 years foreseen plant lifetime) is a 48-month project of the 7th Framework of the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) being carried out under the auspices of the Directorate General Research, Technology and Development (DG.RTD) of the European Commission. Launched in March 2009, and building on the achievements of PERFECT, a EURATOM 6th Framework project, PERFORM 60 has as its main objective the development of multi-scale modelling tools integrated onto a common software platform, aimed at predicting for PWRs (i) the effects of irradiation on RPV materials (low alloy bainitic steels), and (ii) the combined effects of irradiation and corrosion on internals (austenitic stainless steels). Accordingly, PERFORM 60 is based on two main technical sub-projects (i) RPV and (ii) Internals. An Integration sub-project serves to facilitate software development. A Users’ Group supports the main technical sub-projects and allows representatives of constructors, utilities, regulators and research organizations from Europe and further afield to receive the information and training needed to make their own appraisal as to the validity of the developed tools. A significant effort is also being made to train young researchers in the field of physical modelling of materials degradation due to neutron irradiation. The paper describes the general background to PERFORM 60 and provides an overview of the RPV sub-project (SP-1) in terms of its organisation, objectives and technical work programme.