Document: NUREG-0800
Document ID: 4a96f7f8-16d2-41a4-a436-12b528d783d7
Document Type: srp
Title: REACTOR VESSEL INTEGRITY
Source: NUREG-0800
Source URL: https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML0631/ML063190008.pdf
Revision Date: 2023-06
Chapter: 5
Section ID: 5.3.3
CFR Part: 
CFR Title: 

Content:
titute for the NRC’s regulations, and compliance with it is not required. However, an applicant is required to identify differences between the design features, analytical techniques, and procedural measures proposed for its facility and the SRP acceptance criteria and evaluate how the proposed alternatives to the SRP acceptance criteria provide acceptable methods of compliance with the NRC regulations. 1. Design. With regard to compatibility of design with material properties and fabrication methods, the quality standards requirements of GDC 1, GDC 30, and § 50.55a are met by compliance with the provisions of the ASME boiler and pressure vessel code. The basic acceptance criteria for the design of the vessel are the requirements of Section III of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code (hereafter “the Code”). The design of the reactor vessel must be compatible with the properties of the materials used, and must permit construction by the use of standard and well proven fabrication methods. The design details should not include new or novel concepts unless they are substantiated by a comprehensive justification showing that no aspects of the design will compromise the overall integrity of the vessel in any manner. The design details must be adequate to permit all required inspections and to provide required access to all areas requiring inservice inspection in conformance with Section XI of the Code, as detailed in SRP Section 5.2.4. This satisfies the requirements of GDC 32 and § 50.55a regarding inservice inspection. If the procedures of Section IV.A of Appendix G, “Fracture Toughness Requirements,” to 10 CFR Part 50 do not indicate the existence of an equivalent safety margin, then Section IV.B allows the reactor vessel beltline to be given a thermal annealing treatment to recover the fracture toughness of the material, subject to the requirements of 10 CFR 50.66, “Requirements for thermal annealing of the reactor pressure vessel.” Annealing of