DIANA I: 1st International Workshop on DIspersion Strengthened Steels for Advanced Nuclear Applications

Overzicht

Workshop organized in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency

Centre CNRS Paul Langevin, rue du Coin 24 - Aussois, France

The design of advanced nuclear systems based on either fission, fusion or spallation pushes the limits of structural material requirements to high irradiation dose accumulation, high temperature and for fusion and spallation to higher He/dpa ratios. Whether the more stringent demands on materials’ performance come from increasing energy conversion efficiency or burn-up of fissile fuel, from enabling hydrogen production or from the inherent nature of the proposed system, the performance of the structural materials is one of the main bottlenecks for the successful deployment of future advanced nuclear systems.

Among the options considered for improving structural materials performance for nuclear applications are additions of nano-scale dispersions that would inhibit creep and could act as traps for helium and sinks for radiation defects. The best known examples are the various types of oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels, sometimes also referred to as nano-structured ferritic alloys (NFA). Despite tremendous efforts, past industrial production of ODS steels such as MA956, MA957, PM2000 and numerous scientific contributions scattered over various conferences and workshops, these types of nano-strengthened alloys are currently not readily available and a significant amount of R&D is still needed to enable large scale application of these types of materials.

The main objective of the workshop is to bring together scientists and engineers from various countries that are developing nano-strengthened steels for nuclear applications.

In particular, the workshop will address the various approaches that are being developed to fabricate these nano-strengthened materials and compare the benefits and drawbacks. Furthermore, the workshop intends to evaluate the microstructural and mechanical properties of the produced nano-structured alloys, examine their workability (welding, forming, etc.) and evaluate their stability and behaviour under irradiation. Scale up of production route to industrialisation will also be discussed and evaluated for their practicability, quality assurance and costs.

This workshop is aimed at PhD students, post-docs, scientists and engineers involved in all stages of the development, characterization and qualification of advanced structural materials for nuclear applications based on the principle of nano- or micro-scale dispersion or precipitation strengthening.