NSUF 09-153: High Fluence Embrittlement Database and ATR Irradiation Facility for LWR Vessel Life Extension
Embrittlement of RPV steels over operating periods up to 80 effective full power years, corresponding to a maximum neutron fluence up to 10^20 n/cm2 (E > 1 MeV), is a critical issue that may limit LWR plant life extension. An important unresolved RPV embrittlement issue is predicting transition temperature shifts (TTS) at high fluences (> ˜ 6x10^19 n/cm2), which are well beyond the range of the existing surveillance database. Indeed, there are virtually no low flux irradiation data at these fluence levels. Notably,however, current embrittlement models systematically and significantly under-predict embrittlement (TTS) in the existing high flux test reactor database at high fluence [1]. However, neutron flux has strong and very complex effects on embrittlement; indeed, increasing flux can increase, decrease or leave unaffected the TTS, depending on all the other irradiation and material conditions.Currently no US irradiation facility exists to carry out intermediate flux neutron irradiations pertinent to pressure boundary and other structural materials to resolve these issues. Thus UCSB, in collaboration with ORNL and UCB, propose to develop a new ATR irradiation facility for intermediate flux neutron irradiations in a Small I position [2]. The proposed facility will fill a major hole in the existing RPV embrittlement database at high fluence, as well as providing data for resolving a number of other important embrittlement issues. The proposed Small I facility involves an irradiation capsule that is shielded from thermal neutrons, and instrumented and actively heated to maintain good (<±5°C) temperature control. The capsules will contain more than 2000 specimens in at lease three temperature zones, nominally at 270, 290 and 310 °C. Peak flux levels of ˜ 4.5x10^12 n/cm2-s (10-20 times lower than for most other high fluence data) will produce a fluence of 10^20 n/cm2 in a one-year irradiation. Disc multipurpose coupons, disc compact tension fracture, sub-sized tensile and special purpose specimens will provide mechanical property data, as well as detailed characterization of the irradiation induced microstructures, using state-of-the-art techniques. Critical and scientifically important issues, such as the formation of late blooming phases that result in severe embrittlement in low copper steels, will be explored. The greatly enhanced embrittlment database will be used to develop robust, physically based models to predict TTS to and beyond end of extended life conditions. UCSB and ORNL, with many decades of experience in designing and successfully carrying out major irradiation studies, will collaborate with INL to design and implement the facility. UCSB, ORNL and UCB, who are internationally recognized leaders in various sophisticated characterization studies as well as materials modeling research, will carry out the post irradiation examinations along with their large network of worldwide collaborators. This program will not only provide critical early insight on embrittlement at high fluence, but will also lay a foundation for developing other ATR RPV steel irradiation facilities for longer-term irradiations at even lower and more vessel pertinent neutron fluxes.
Mer information
| Fält | Värde |
|---|---|
| Awarded Institution | University of California-Santa Barbara |
| Contact Email | [email protected] |
| Contact Name | Mikhail Sokolov |
| Embargo End Date | 2026-02-27 |
| Facility Tech Lead | Alina Montrose, Kory Linton |
| NSUF Call | FY 2009 Fall Solicitation for User Proposals |
| PI | G. Robert Odette |
| Project Member | Dr. Brian Wirth - University of Tennessee-Knoxville |
| Project Member | Dr. Takuya Yamamoto, Professional Research - University of California-Santa Barbara (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6480-5225) |
| Project Member | Professor G. Robert Odette - University of California-Santa Barbara (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7700-9391) |
| Project Type | Irradiation/PIE |
| Publication | Fracture Toughness Characterization of Reactor Pressure Alloys from the ATR-2 Experiment G. Robert Odette, Takuya Yamamoto, Peter Wells None None 2017-07-01 https://lwrs.inl.gov/Materials%20Aging%20and%20Degradation/Fracture_Toughness_Characterization_of_Reactor_Pressure_Alloys_from_the_ATR-2_Experiment.pdf |
| Publication | Fracture Toughness Characterization of Highly Irradiated Reactor Pressure Vessel Weld from the ATR-2 Experiment G. Robert Odette OSTI.gov Technical Report 2018-08-01 https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1471867 |
| Publication | Direct comparison of nanoindentation and tensile test results on reactor-irradiated materials David Krumwiede, Takuya Yamamoto, Tarik Saleh, Stuart Maloy, G. Robert Odette, Peter Hosemann Journal of Nuclear Materials 504 2018-06-01 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022311517317749#ack0010 |
| Publication | Cluster dynamics modeling of Mn-Ni-Si precipitates in ferritic-martensitic steel under irradiation G. Robert Odette Journal of Nuclear Materials 498 2018-01-01 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022311517310176#ack0010 |
| Publication | Dose rate dependence of Cr precipitation in an ion-irradiated Fe18Cr alloy Nathan Almirall, Takuya Yamamoto, Scott Tumey, G. Robert Odette, Emmanuelle Marquis Scripta Materialia 146 2018-03-01 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359646217306851#bi0005 |
| Publication | On the use of charged particles to characterize precipitation in irradiated reactor pressure vessel steels with a wide range of compositions Nathan Almirall, Peter Wells, Takuya Yamamoto, G. Robert Odette Journal of Nuclear Materials 536 2020-08-01 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022311520300660 |
| Publication | Flux effects in precipitation under irradiation – Simulation of Fe-Cr alloys Emmanuelle Marquis, G. Robert Odette Acta Materialia 164 2019-02-01 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359645418308735#ack0010a |
| Publication | CuMnNiSi precipitate evolution in irradiated reactor pressure vessel steels: Integrated Cluster Dynamics and experiments Peter Wells, G. Robert Odette, Dane Morgan Acta Maerialia 180 2019-11-13 None |
| Publication | A kinetic lattice Monte Carlo study of post-irradiation annealing of model reactor pressure vessel steels G. Robert Odette, Shipeng Shu, Peter Wells, Dane Morgan Journal of Nuclear Materials None 2019-07-18 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022311519301667 |
| Publication | Microstructural examination of neutron, proton and self-ion irradiation damage in a model Fe9Cr alloy Jack Haley, G. Robert Odette, Steve Roberts Journal of Nuclear Materials 533 2020-05-13 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022311519312528#ack0010 |
| Publication | An Atom Probe Tomography Study of the Through Wall Attenuation Effect on Cu-rich Precipitate Formation in a Reactor Pressure Vessel Steel Philip Edmondson, Caleb Massey, Thomas Rosseel Journal of Nuclear Materials 543 2021-03-17 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022311520313489 |
| Publication | Precipitation in reactor pressure vessel steels under ion and neutron irradiation: On the role of segregated network dislocations G. Robert Odette, Nathan Almirall, Takuya Yamamoto Acta Materialia 212 2021-06-16 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1359645421003025#ack0001 |
| Publication | The effect of phosphorus on precipitation in irradiated reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels Mukesh Bachhav, Nathan Almirall, Takuya Yamamoto, Emmanuelle Marquis, G. Robert Odette Journal of Nuclear Materials 585 2023-11-01 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022311523003811?via%3Dihub#refdata001 |
| Publication | A Low Flux High Fluence Transition Temperature Shift Reduced Order Prediction Model G. Robert Odette Nuclear Engineering and Technology 53 2019-09-01 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1738573321001054 |
| Publication | A more holistic characterisation of internal interfaces in a variety of materials via complementary use of transmission Kikuchi diffraction and Atom probe tomography Ben Jenkins, G. Robert Odette Applied Surface Science 528 2020-10-30 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169433220317682#s0105 |
| Publication | Using alpha hulls to automatically and reproducibly detect edge clusters in atom probe tomography datasets Ben Jenkins Materials Characterisation 160 2020-02-12 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matchar.2019.110078 |
| Publication | The effect of composition variations on the response of steels subjected to high fluence neutron irradiation Ben Jenkins, Nathan Almirall, G. Robert Odette Materialia 11 2020-06-01 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mtla.2020.100717 |
| RTE Number | 153 |