Japan's Nuclear Regulation Authority (NRA) has asked NPP operators to examine large forged components in their units, such as the reactor pressure vessels, steam generators and pressurizers, to test for high levels of carbon in the steel. NRA is investigating whether parts supplied by Japan Casting and Forging Corporation (JCFC) are affected by similar anomalies discovered in the steel of the pressure vessel of the EPR under construction at unit 3 of France’s Flamanville NPP, which was produced by Areva's Creusot Forge. In July, the French nuclear safety authority (Autorité de sûreté nucléaire – ASN) asked EDF to justify the mechanical resistance of steam generator bottom heads used in plants that had been manufactured by the Creusot Forge or JCFC.
