Materials for high performance light water reactors

A state-of-the-art study was performed to investigate the operational conditions for in-core and out-of-core materials in a high performance light water reactor (HPLWR) and to evaluate the potential of existing structural materials for application in fuel elements, core structures and out-of-core components. In the conventional parts of a HPLWR-plant the approved materials of supercritical fossil power plants (SCFPP) can be used for given temperatures (⩽600 °C) and pressures (≈250 bar). These are either commercial ferritic/martensitic or austenitic stainless steels. Taking the conditions of existing light water reactors (LWR) into account an assessment of potential cladding materials was made, based on existing creep-rupture data, an extensive analysis of the corrosion in conventional steam power plants and available information on material behaviour under irradiation. As a major result it is shown that for an assumed maximum temperature of 650 °C not only Ni-alloys, but also austenitic stainless steels can be used as cladding materials.