RCC-F

Purpose and scope

The RCC-F code defines the rules for designing, building and installing the fire protection systems used to manage the nuclear hazards inherent in the outbreak of a fire inside the facility and thereby control the fundamental nuclear functions.

This code's target readership is therefore:

• Suppliers of fire protection equipment.
• Engineering firms responsible for designing, building and installing fire protection systems.
• Laboratories carrying out qualification testing of fire protection equipment.
• Nuclear safety authorities responsible for approving the safety demonstration.

The code defines fire protection systems within a finite scope of service buildings in a light water nuclear power plant.

If any one of the requirements in the code is unenforceable due to specific difficulties, a design may nevertheless be implemented provided that justification is duly documented.

The code provides fire protection recommendations in terms of:

• The industrial risk (loss of assets and/or operation).
• Personnel safety.
• The environment.

The code is divided into five main sections:

• General
• Design safety principles
• Fire protection design bases
• Construction provisions
• Rules for installing the fire protection components and equipment

The RCC-F code is available as an ETC-F version specifically for EPR projects (European pressurised reactor).

Edition available

RCC-F 2024 edition

The Main changes since the previous edition of the code are listed here after: RCC-F 2024 main changes.

RCC-F 2020 edition

RCC-F 2020 consolidates the 2017 first edition by providing significant technical enhancements and complements :

• New appendix dealing with Fire Hazard Analysis, presenting the different analysis and numerical studies to put in place.  
• New chapter on the assessment of risks induced by fire protection (water spray, gas, thermal overload, etc.) and the management of spurious actions of protection systems (e.g. detection)
• Clarifications on exterior fire assessment
• Clarifications and complements on hazard combinations
• New paragraph on BDBE (post-Fukushima learnings)
• Up-take of ISO 9001:2015
• Complements on venting ducts, fire pumps design, cable arrangement, etc.
• Up-dates in regulation and standards appendixes (147 standards reviewed) suppression of remaining proprietary references
• Many editorial enhancements (e.g. index and links), language polishing and clarifications

The technical publication "RCC-F 2020 Gap analysis" goes with this edition.

RCC-F 2017 edition

RCC-F 2017 is an evolution of ETC-F 2013 suppressing EPR concept specificity to propose a generalist code for PWR reactors.

In particular, this action leads to enhance safety objective and analysis rule chapters, becoming furthermore informative (specific to each project)

The code also incorporates other modifications and clarifications such as :

• Integration of new French regulation principles (INB Decision 2012 and Fire Decision 2014-DC-0417 –March 20^th 2017)

• Introduction of European Construction Product Regulation for fire resistant electric cables

• Clarification of the code application domain

• Rework of the smoke management chapter

RCC-F 2013 edition

The 2013 edition of the ETC-F code incorporated two major changes:

• Removal of the code's adherence to the specifics of EPR projects.
• Inclusion of British regulations, which prompted a significant overhaul to the body of the text, as well as the creation of an appendix specifically addressing such regulations and designed to improve understanding thereof.

This exercise in anglicizing the code gave AFCEN hands-on experience in updating the code to reflect foreign regulations (in terms of the time, processes and skills required).

It also served as the ideal opportunity to integrate British practices.

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An errata section is available, follow this link: Errata of RCC-F code..

For more details about RCC-F