AFCEN RCC-F: A New Standard for the Fire Protection Design of New Built Light Water Nuclear Power Plants

Fire hazard is an important issue for the safety of nuclear power plants: the main internal hazard in terms of frequency, and probably one the most significant with regards to the design costs. AFCEN is publishing in 2018 a new code for fire protection of new built PWR nuclear plants, so-called RCC-F. This code is an evolution of the former ETC-F code which has been applied to different EPR plants under construction (Flamanville 3 (FA3, France), Hinkley Point C (HPC, United Kingdom), Taïshan (TSN, China)). The RCC-F code presents significant enhancement and evolutions resulting from eight years of work by the AFCEN dedicated sub-committee, involving a panel of contributors from the nuclear field. It is now opened to any type of PWR (Pressurized Water Reactor) type of nuclear power plants and not any longer limited to EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) plants. It can potentially be adapted to other light water concepts. Its objective is to help engineers design the fire prevention and protection scheme, systems and equipment with regards to the safety case and the defense in depth taking into account the French and European experience in the field. It deals also with the national regulations, with two appendices dedicated to French and British regulations respectively. The presentation gives an overview of the code specifications and focuses on the significant improvements.