Towards an improvement of allowable planar flaws of ASME Code Section XI acceptance standards for ferritic steel materials

Lacroix, V.*; Dulieu, P.*; Hasegawa, Kunio

In case of flaw detection during In-Service inspection of nuclear components, ASME Code Section XI provides Acceptance Standards. For ferritic steel materials, the size of allowable planar flaws is given in Table IWB-3510-1. The allowable flaw size only depends on three parameters: the component thickness, the flaw aspect ratio and the proximity of the flaw to the surface. However, a graphical analysis of the impact of those parameters highlights some inconsistencies. Consequently, the need to revise the allowable planar flaws of ASME Code Section XI Acceptance Standards using a robust technical basis is brought to light. This paper details the inconsistencies related to the present allowable planar flaws table and proposes improvement points to revise the allowable planar flaw Table IWB-3510-1.