OBJECTIVES
EAF-NEXUS is a 2-year project aiming to establish and demonstrate an evidence-based European framework for evaluating environmentally assisted fatigue (EAF) evidence, assessment methods, and future validation needs. Key objectives include:
- Qualify international fatigue datasets from the IFD/MatDB
- Extract robust knowledge using data-analysis tools
- Compare international EAF assessment approaches and margins
- Investigate key technical effects on austenitic stainless steels
- Prioritise laboratory-to-component transferability gaps
- Deliver best-practice guidance, training, and a validation roadmap
EXPECTED IMPACT
- Strengthened LTO and safety assessments: Plant operators and regulators will gain a traceable, common technical basis to evaluate margins, enhance fatigue ageing-management programs, and support safe long-term operation (LTO) decisions across operating light-water reactors (covering over 70% of EU/Swiss nuclear power plants).
- Refinement of structural-integrity assessment routes: By identifying the origins of divergence and conservatism across US, French/European, German, Central European/VVER, and UK frameworks, the project offers evidence-based recommendations for future pre-standardisation work.
- Targeted and cost-effective future R&D: Research investments will be directed toward decision-relevant uncertainties through a prioritised future validation roadmap, preventing redundant broad experimental campaigns.
- Sustained digital infrastructure and data governance: EAF-NEXUS will extend the analytical capabilities of the IFD web application while ensuring authoritative records are preserved in MatDB under FAIR principles for post-project reuse.
- Preservation of European competence and international reach: Technical continuity from earlier Euratom initiatives (INCEFA-PLUS/SCALE) is maintained, training early-career engineers and fostering direct collaboration with major international bodies including the US NRC, EPRI, Rolls-Royce, and Amentum.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Standardized qualification and curation of stainless-steel fatigue records from the International Fatigue Database (IFD/MatDB)
- Common-basis benchmarking across US (ASME/NUREG), French (RCC-M), German (KTA), Central European (VVER), and UK assessment routes
- Targeted evaluation of complex challenge cases including variable-amplitude loading, notch strain gradients, and multiaxial stress states
- Evidence-based testing specifications, reusable IFD web-app tools, and best-practice guidance for an Active End-User Group of nuclear utilities and safety regulators
PARTNERS
INNOMERICS / UJV / EDF / KTU / EPRI EUROPE DAC / FRAMATOME GMBH / JRC / PSI / SCK-CEN / UNIVERSIDAD DE CANTABRIA / UNIVERSITY OF STUTTGART / AEMI / AMENTUM / ROLLS-ROYCE / US NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMISSION / EPRI US
CONTACT
Project coordinator:
Technical coordinator
