Characterization And Testing Of Materials For Nuclear Reactors

Industrial growth, energy consumption are seen as measures towards economic developments. With increase in industrial development worldwide, the demand of energy is continually on the rise. Today, the energy industry is facing many challenges. Nuclear fission and nuclear fusion are seen as important future energy sources. Development of innovative reactor designs with large efficiency for fuel burn up is one of the needs of fission reactors. The materials resistant to high dose of radiations in fusion reactors is another major challenge. The production of electricity without global warming is an important pressing demand on the energy sector. The demands on quality control of components for nuclear and heavy industry are very stringent. Development of well characterized, high quality materials is therefore essential for safe, efficient and reliable operation of engineering components. The diagnosis of failure of machinery parts comes from the post operational characterization of materials. Various destructive and non-destructive techniques are used for this purpose. Research reactors have played an important role in non-destructive characterization of materials and have contributed to technology development. This publication focuses on characterization of materials for industries in general and nuclear energy sector in particular. The main focus is on research reactor based techniques with some discussion on other allied methods like positron annihilation.--Publisher's description.

The clamor for non-carbon dioxide emitting energy production has directly impacted on the development of nuclear energy. As new nuclear plants are built, plans and designs are continually being developed to manage the range of challenging requirement and problems that nuclear plants face especially when managing the greatly increased operating temperatures, irradiation doses and extended design life spans. Materials for Nuclear Plants: From Safe Design to Residual Life Assessments provides a comprehensive treatment of the structural materials for nuclear power plants with emphasis on advanced design concepts. Materials for Nuclear Plants: From Safe Design to Residual Life Assessments approaches structural materials with a systemic approach. Important components and materials currently in use as well as those which can be considered in future designs are detailed, whilst the damage mechanisms responsible for plant ageing are discussed and explained. Methodologies for materials characterization, materials modeling and advanced materials testing will be described including design code considerations and non-destructive evaluation concepts. Including models for simple system dynamic problems and knowledge of current nuclear power plants in operation, Materials for Nuclear Plants: From Safe Design to Residual Life Assessments is ideal for students studying postgraduate courses in Nuclear Engineering. Designers on courses for code development, such as ASME or ISO and nuclear authorities will also find this a useful reference.

"This publication is a compilation of the main results and findings of an IAEA coordinated research project (CRP) on development, characterization and testing of materials of relevance to nuclear energy sector using neutron beams. The document contains joint research results from nineteen institutions, which can be grouped into the main six technical areas: investigation of oxide dispersion-strengthened steels, research on zirconium based materials (including hydrogen uptake), investigations of welded structures and objects, results with irradiated materials, optimization of instruments for residual strain/stress measurements, and efforts towards standardization of neutron imaging. Particular emphasis was placed on variable environments during material characterization and testing as required by some applications such as intensive irradiation load, high temperature and high pressure conditions, and the presence of strong magnetic fields. The publication also includes some additional materials supplied by the international experts along with nineteen individual contributions describing the current status of use of diverse neutron beam techniques for materials research targeting the nuclear energy sector. These nineteen individual reports are available on CD-ROM attached to this publication. The publication will be of interest to physicists and engineers in the area of materials research, neutron beam scientists and personnel responsible for instruments, managers of neutron beam facilities, nuclear reactor designers and nuclear industry representatives."--Publisher's description.

Papers presented at the International Conference on Characterisation and Quality Control of Nuclear Fuels, held at Hyderabad in 2002.

This report describes and assesses radiological characterization as a precursor to decommissioning. It shows the influence of the radioactive inventory on the planning and strategies of decommissioning and also presents an extensive overview of characterization results on various reactors which have been or are being decommissioned.

This publication is the proceedings of a technical meeting and presents an overview of state-of-the-art in performance testing and micro-structural characterization of the recent and candidate materials for fuel cells and hydrogen storage, with special focus on the application of nuclear techniques. The main objectives of the meeting were to support new trends in research and development programmes, identify a methodology for application of nuclear techniques and strengthen international cooperation between scientists with a special emphasis on sharing best practice and technology transfer.

Over the past decade significant progress has been achieved in the development of waste characterization and control procedures and equipment as a direct response to ever-increasing requirements for quality and reliability of information on waste characteristics. Failure in control procedures at any step can have important, adverse consequences and may result in producing waste packages which are not compliant with the waste acceptance criteria for disposal, thereby adversely impacting the repository. The information and guidance included in this publication corresponds to recent achievements and reflects the optimum approaches, thereby reducing the potential for error and enhancing the quality of the end product. -- Publisher's description.