Consideration of Irradiation Effect in Components Design: Illustration of a Way to Introduce an Environmental Effect in the Design Process

Abstract

During the last years, a particular attention has been paid to the consideration and evaluation of environmental effects in the design of mechanical components, particularly for the consequences of Pressure Water Reactors environment on fatigue damages. In the frame of RCC-MRx design code, developed for Sodium Fast Reactors (SFR), Research Reactors (RR) and Fusion Reactors (FR-ITER), the specific features are creep damage (covered by the design rules responding to the needs of fast breeder reactors and high temperatures) and irradiated material (covered by the design rules responding to the needs of research reactors developed for the JHR project). The purpose of this document is to detail the way to consider an environmental effect such irradiation in the material design rules. It covers: - the background for these rules, linked with the changes in materials behavior, - their content, in term of damage impact, - and the challenges to be met for their development to other applications.