Cluster dynamics of proton irradiated RPV steel at room temperature

Abstract

The life of reactor pressure vessels in nuclear power plants will be extended to 60 years, while the irradiation data of materials from commercial and experimental reactors are rare and expensive. There is an urgent need to solve how to accurately predict the changes in microstructure and mechanical properties of high-dose irradiated materials of RPV. The cluster dynamics method can be used to establish the relationship between nanostructure and macro properties and to study its evolution over a long period of years. Based on the average rate field theory, a cluster dynamics model was developed for the evolution of irradiated microstructure of RPV steel, which considers both homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation of solute clusters. The model was successfully used to simulate the influence of the proton irradiation-induced cluster size and number density of RPV model steel with a low copper content at room temperature.