The effects of irradiation, annealing and reirradiation on RPV steels

M. K. Miller, R. K. Nanstad, M. A. Sokolov, K. F. Russell

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47 Scopus citations

Abstract

An atom probe tomography microstructural characterization has been performed on an A533B pressure vessel steel (JRQ) after irradiation to a fluence of 5 × 1023 n m-2 (E > 1 MeV) and a subsequent annealing treatment of 168 h at 460 °C and also through two cycles of neutron irradiation (0.85 × 1023 n m-2 (E > 1 MeV)) and annealing (168 h at 460 °C). The alloy that was neutron irradiated to a fluence of 5 × 1023 n m-2 exhibited a high number density of Cu-enriched precipitates and a shift in the ductile-to-brittle transformation temperature of ΔT41J = 96 °C. Annealing for 168 h at 460 °C coarsened these Cu-enriched precipitates and recovered the embrittlement. The material that was re-irradiated to a total fluence 1.7 × 1023 n m-2 also exhibited a high number density of Cu-enriched precipitates and a ΔT41J shift of 56 °C. Annealing the re-irradiated material for 168 h at 460 °C coarsened these precipitates and recovered the embrittlement.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)216-222
Number of pages7
JournalJournal of Nuclear Materials
Volume351
Issue number1-3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 1 2006

Funding

The authors would like to thank Drs R. Dietmar Kalkhof and Markus Niffenegger of the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland and Philip Tipping of the Swiss Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate for their significant contributions to the research presented in this paper. Research at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory SHaRE User Facility was sponsored by the Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering (atom probe), US Department of Energy, under contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC and by the Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research, US Nuclear Regulatory Commission under inter-agency agreement DOE 1886-N695-3W with the US Department of Energy.

FundersFunder number
Office of Nuclear Regulatory Research
US Department of EnergyDE-AC05-00OR22725
U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering

    Keywords

    • A0800
    • P1200
    • R0200

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