Overview of the JEA Code of Fracture Toughness Requirements for Nuclear Power Plant Components

The Japan Electric Association Code, JEAC 4206, “Method of Verification Tests of the Fracture Toughness for Nuclear Power Plant Components” was originally published in 1973 in order to prescribe test methods, fracture toughness requirements and acceptance standards for materials used in nuclear power plant components. The code was recently revised so as to incorporate a new method to evaluate the structural integrity of reactor vessels with upper shelf Charpy impact energy (USE) less than 68J, based on the results of the researches performed as national projects by the Japan Power Engineering and Inspection Corporation and so on. In this paper, some contents of the code, which are applicable for reactor vessels, such as J integral based integrity evaluation method for reactor vessels with low USE including predicting J resistance curves (J-R curves) by using USE and temperature, and methods to evaluate integrity against pressurized thermal shock events and to determine pressure temperature limits, are overviewed.Copyright © 2006 by ASME