Modeling of Irradiation Embrittlement of Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

Reactor Pressure Vessel Embrittlement—i

Origin of Embrittlement of Commercial Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels: Cu-rich Precipitates and Defects

The irradiation-induced embrittlement of the nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels is currently a vital issue for ensuring safe operation of nuclear power plants in the world since the reactors of the first generation are going to exceed their initially designed operation lifetimes. Thus, it is of great importance to reveal the nanostructural change, attributed to the origins of the embr...

Grain Boundary Segregation in Commercial Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

Grain boundary (GB) segregation of impurity/solute atoms in surveillance test specimens of a commercial western-type pressurized water reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steel has been observed by using state-of-the-art 3D atom probe (3DAP) field ion microscope (laser-assisted local electrode-type atom probe: laser-LEAP). The GB segregation is considered to be an origin of the embrittlement of the R...

Positron Annihilation Measurements on Nuclear Reactor Pressure Vessel Steels

Positron Annihilation Spectroscopy is a valuable microscopic method to study radiation damage in nuclear reactor pressure vessel steels. At SCKoCEN, a new positron lifetime setup, suited to measure positron lifetimes in irradiated steel, is being constructed. The particularity of this setup is that the prompt count rate originating from the induced 60Co-activity in the steel is highly reduced. ...

Prevention of Hydrogen Embrittlement in Steels

The essential facts about the nature of the hydrogen embrittlement of steels have now been known for 140 years. It is diffusible hydrogen that is harmful to the toughness of iron. It follows, therefore, that the harmful influence of diffusible hydrogen can be mitigated by preventing its entry into steel or by rendering it immobile once it penetrates the material. This review deals with the meth...