RCC-F 2017

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).

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

For more details about RCC-F