INCEFA-PLUS (Increasing safety in NPPs by covering gaps in environmental fatigue assessment)

Abstract

INCEFA-PLUS is a European Project (funded by the EC HORIZON2020 program) started in July 2015 and lasts five years (until June 2020). The project involves 16 members from all over Europe and its main goal is to guarantee safety in operations of Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs) by delivering experimental data to support the development of improved environmental fatigue assessment guidelines. The issues of common interest are being studied: the effects of mean strain/stress, hold time, strain amplitude and surface finish on the fatigue performance of austenitic stainless steels in the LWR (Light Water Reactor) environment. Within the framework of the CEN (European Committee for Standardization) workshop FATEDA, the consortium developed a fatigue data format, used in an online environmental fatigue database, available for all participants. The paper describes phase one (of three) testing, including conditions such as surface finish and hold time. The plans that are being made for phase two testing will be detailed. The materials used in the tests, the surface finish data and some experimental results for phase one are presented, together with a summary of the INCEFA-PLUS testing protocol. Finally, a review of existing assessment methodologies and a summary of dissemination activities are provided.