Evolution under Irradiation of Optimized Austenitic Steel For Gen-IV Reactors. Impact on Fuel Cladding Properties and Performances

Arnaud Courcelle, Caroline Bisor, Emma Piozin, Mikael Kountchou, Pierre Gavoille, Marion Le Flem, Jean-Louis Séran, C. Gallé
2016 EPJ Web of Conferences  
An important class of swelling-resistant alloys used in fast-reactor are the cold-worked, titaniumstabilized austenitic stainless steels (15-15Ti AIM1 in France, DIN1.4970 in Germany, optimized D9 in the US and AFIC1 in India). An advanced 15-15Ti alloy was selected for the fuel cladding of the initial core of the fast-reactor French project ASTRID [1]. To extend its qualification at high dose, post-irradiation examinations were recently performed on mixed-oxide fuel pins, irradiated in the
more » ... ix fast-reactor up to 130 dpa and retrieved after Phénix shutdown. As shown in Fig. 1 , destructive examinations in hot labs (CEA/LECA-STAR and CEA/LECI facilities) were done to quantify the contribution of irradiation creep and swelling to the total cladding deformation. The results are compared with the past examinations on the same material at lower dose 80 and 110 dpa [2] and confirm the very good swelling resistance of this optimized alloy at 130 dpa.
doi:10.1051/epjconf/201611504003 fatcat:f5vt34hlj5crtb5ueg4ikjookm