The new sources of energy based on nuclear technologies are under development at the moment. Several studies have confirmed that the development of new energy sources, which do not emit greenhouse gases (GEG), is a promising way to solve the problem of energy production and decrease the GEG emission. Nowadays, the different nuclear reactor concepts are studied in the international forum called "Generation IV". Nowadays, six concepts are already selected for future installations, in particular Gas-Cooled Fast Reactor (GFR), Lead-Cooled Fast Reactor (LFR), Molten Salt Reactor (MSR), Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor (SFR), Supercritical Water-Cooled Reactor (SCWR) and Very-High-Temperature Reactor (VHTR). Some of them seem to be very effective from the sustainability point of view.
However, one of the most important prerequisities for this new types of nuclear installations, is the highest possible level of safety, effective economics and finally, enhanced proliferation resistance. In view of these requirements the material aspects for components becomes, therefore very important.
Most of the materials have been developed in a short period and therefore, a huge effort must be carried out for their characterization and validation in the R&D phase. Moreover, the issue concerning the structural integrity of materials is going to have a more and more dominant role due to the degradation mechanisms, as hardening, thermal fatigue, creep, swelling, phase instability and embrittlement, which must be understood in order to estimate the component lifetime.
In this paper we present some interesting results on few candidate materials selected for Generation IV reactor concepts. The study is based on application of non-destructive spectroscopic technique to investigate materials as EUROFER’97, P91 and T91.
Keywords: advanced materials, nuclear industry, radiation embrittlement, positron annihilation, transmission electron microscopy.
ZEMAN Andrej;
DEBARBERIS Luigi;
KOCIK Jan;
SLUGEN Vladimir;
KEILOVA Eliska;
2007-10-17
ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV
JRC33472
0022-3115,
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC33472,
10.1016/j.jnucmat.2007.01.068,
