VERLIFE Guidelines: Ensuring the safety and lifetime of nuclear reactors

Comprehensive guidelines for safety and durability

The VERLIFE Guidelines provide a comprehensive set of procedures for evaluating the safety and durability of critical components within WWER-type reactors. These procedures include methods for assessing resistance against fast fracture, fatigue damage, and corrosion-mechanical damage, as well as the acceptability of any flaws discovered during in-service inspections.

The guidelines also cover important aspects like the integrity of reactor piping, the qualifications needed for inspections and risk-informed inspections. They even extend to the evaluation of reactor vessel internals, component supports and detailed topics such as radiation-induced material degradation, thermal aging and the evaluation of pressurised thermal shocks.

A wide-ranging collaboration

Developed over 15 years, the guidelines are the result of a collaborative effort involving 68 experts from 9 countries with operational WWER-type reactors. While the guidelines are mainly based on Soviet and Russian design and manufacturing rules, they have been refined to incorporate operational experience of countries using these reactors, such as Bulgaria, Czechia, Finland, Slovakia and Ukraine. These updates also ensure that the guidelines are in line with international standards, particularly those used for western pressurised water reactors (PWRs).

The VERLIFE Guidelines can be used in preparing official reports for periodic safety reviews, licensing and plant life management programmes, pending approval by national nuclear regulatory authorities.

JRC expertise

The Joint Research Centre (JRC) thoroughly reviewed the guidelines before publication, ensuring the terminology and references were up to date for all the fields covered by the guidelines.

Their publication is a major achievement for the JRC, highlighting years of dedicated collaboration. However, the work doesn’t stop here. The JRC and the contributing experts will regularly review and update the guidelines, ensuring they continue to support the safety and reliability of WWER-type nuclear reactors for years to come.

Related links

VERLIFE Guidelines for Integrity and Lifetime Assessment of Components and Piping in WWER Nuclear Power Plants