The objective is to continue work, advancing ability to predict lifetimes of Nuclear Plant components when subjected to Environmental Assisted Fatigue loading. Over the five years proposed for INCEFA-SCALE, EPRI in the USA is leading a series of component scale environmental fatigue tests. These are expected to advance data availability significantly; however, advances in addressing transferability of laboratory scale tests to real component geometries and loadings will still be constrained by limited test data. This knowledge gap is recognised worldwide as significant. INCEFA-SCALE will generate significantly increased understanding of the transferability of laboratory scale test data to component scale. The project strategy will be (1) the development of comprehensive mechanistic understanding developed through detailed examination of test specimens and MatDB data mining, and (2) testing focussed on particular aspects of component scale cyclic loading. Examples of tests possible include, uniaxial specimens with notches (to address complex loads), membrane tests (to address biaxiality), thermo-mechanical tests (to address thermal cycling and thermal gradient effects), and complex wave tests (to address real plant transient effects). The project will begin by “data mining” to extract maximum understanding from the vast amount of test data within JRC’s MatDB database (from the predecessor INCEFA-PLUS project, and from other external sources such as USNRC, EPRI, MHI and the AdFaM project). In parallel the test program needs will be agreed. Testing will commence after one year and run for 3 years. Finally, the project will deliver guidance on use of laboratory scale data for component scales. Industrial support, is demonstrated by over €3M matching funds and positive endorsements from EPRI, ENEN and NUGENIA. EC support will enable maximum consistency and coordination of testing and assessment.

GEMMA Project addresses the action NFRP 5 of the 2015 EU call: “Materials research for Generation-IV reactors”, which has the scope to investigate the areas where further research and innovation is needed to reach technological maturity in the frame of the development of Generation IV reactor materials. The proposal is prepared under the auspices of the Joint Program on Nuclear Materials of the European Energy Research Alliance (EERA JPNM). It is based on the contents of seven Pilot Projects recently approved by EERA JPNM dealing with environmental characterizations of materials and welds, numerical modeling accompanied by dedicated experiments and development of mitigation measures towards materials degradation. The general objective of GEMMA Project is to qualify and codify the selected structural materials for the construction of Generation IV reactors, as envisaged within the European Sustainable Nuclear Industrial Initiative (ESNII). The structural materials, to be considered in the GEMMA project, are those selected by the designers of the ESNII systems for fuel cladding and, in some cases, for the main vessel and the internals. Their qualification means that their resistance to harsh exposure conditions of high temperature, highly corrosive environment and intense flux of fast neutrons, will be experimentally verified and/or numerically modelled. The applicability of materials to the reactors' construction implies also that relevant welded joints will be tested as well as corrosion protection treatments. Even the corrosion resistance of new Alumina Forming Alloy steels and surface treatments will be tested in representative conditions. The codification of the project results entails that a large amount of experimental data will be generated and that such data will be transformed to useful rules, for system and component designers, to be expressed in a suitable way for inclusion in the Design Rules of the RCC-MRx code.