Microstructure of Austenitic Steels Irradiated to High Fluences

presentation

en

Aging and embrittlement of reactor internals at high fluences may pose issues for the current fleet of reactors with the extension of licenses beyond 60 years. Typical neutron irradiation experiments in test reactors require years of in core exposure to reach appreciable fluence levels. Special facilities and instrumentation are required for handling radioactive samples. Self-ion irradiations capable of high dose rate (~10-3 dpa/s or ~100 dpa/day) have the potential to capture and isolate the processes occurring during neutron irradiation to high fluence (in excess of 100 dpa). The motivation is to understand the evolution of the microstructure of austenitic alloys at high fluences using self-ion irradiation.

Aging and embrittlement of reactor internals at high fluences may pose issues for the current fleet of reactors with the extension of licenses beyond 60 years. Typical neutron irradiation experiments in test reactors require years of in core exposure to reach appreciable fluence levels. Special facilities and instrumentation are required for handling radioactive samples. Self-ion irradiations capable of high dose rate (~10-3 dpa/s or ~100 dpa/day) have the potential to capture and isolate the processes occurring during neutron irradiation to high fluence (in excess of 100 dpa). The motivation is to understand the evolution of the microstructure of austenitic alloys at high fluences using self-ion irradiation.

Heavy ion irradiation, simulation, TEM, atom probe tomography

28.10.2010

USA