The LONGLIFE European Approach for Long-Term Operation

An overview of the long-term operation (LTO) conditions in European nuclear power plants is presented herein together with recommendations for the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) surveillance programs based on the work performed in the international project LONGLIFE (Treatment of Long-Term Irradiation Embrittlement Effects in RPV Safety Assessment). Surveillance guidelines were developed in this project to support the potential end users (utilities, nuclear power plants, research organizations, etc.) in selecting the appropriate strategy and technical approaches for RPV irradiation surveillance for LTO, thus contributing to a reliable monitoring of the long-term irradiation effects in RPV and supporting the European efforts toward harmonizing procedures for RPV surveillance and safety assessment.