Material selection and R&D

Common materials

  • Al-alloys (used mostly in MTRs) would not sustain this relatively high temperature and also the irradiation conditions would yield to severe embrittlment of this class of materials
  • Ni-based alloys (used mainly in PWR) are having a high affinity to dissolve in Pb-Bi beside their mirostructural instability under irradiation
  • Austenitic steels (used mainly as internals in LWRs ) are very susceptible to irradiation induced swelling and creep. In addition they showed a poor resistance to corrosion in liquid Pb-alloys.
  • Zr-alloys (used as fuel cladding in LWRs) have shown drastic loss of strenght and ductility under high temperature irradiation especially in the presence of hydrogen.
  • Ferritic-Martensitic steels ( wrapper tubes in Phenix, candidate materials for Fast reactors and fusion), appear to be as promising candidate materials both for fuel cladding and structures.