Activities of Working Group on Verification of PASCAL; Fiscal years 2016 and 2017

Li, Y. ; Hirota, Takatoshi*; Itabashi, Yu*; Yamamoto, Masato*; Kanto, Yasuhiro*; Suzuki, Masahide*; Miyamoto, Yuhei*

For the improvement of the structural integrity assessment methodology on reactor pressure vessels (RPVs), the probabilistic fracture mechanics (PFM) analysis code PASCAL has been developed and improved in Japan Atomic Energy Agency based on the latest knowledge. The PASCAL code evaluates the failure probabilities and frequencies of Japanese RPVs under transient events such as pressure thermal shock considering neutron irradiation embrittlement. In order to confirm the reliability of the PASCAL as a domestic standard code and to promote the application of PFM on the domestic structural integrity assessments of RPVs, it is important to perform verification activities, and summarize the verification processes and results as a document. On the basis of these backgrounds, we established a working group, composed of experts on this field besides the developers, on the verification of the PASCAL module and the source program of PASCAL was released to the members of working group. This report summarizes the activities of the working group on the verification of PASCAL in FY2016 and FY2017.