Influence of subcascade formation on displacement damage at high PKA energies

Abstract

The design of first generation fusion reactors will have to be rely on radiation effects data obtained from experiments conducted in fission reactors. Two issues must be addressed to use this data with confidence. The first is differences in the neutron energy spectrum, and the second is differences in nuclear transmutation rates. Differences in the neutron energy spectra are reflected in the energy spectra of the primary knockon atoms (PKA). The issue of PKA energy effects has been addressed through the use of displacement cascade simulations using the method of molecular dynamics (MD). Although MD simulations can provide a detailed picture of the formation and evolution of displacement cascades, they impose a substantial computational burden. However, recent advances in computing equipment permit the simulation of high energy displacement events involving more than one-million atoms; the results presented here encompass MD cascade simulation energies from near the displacement threshold to as high as 40 keV. Two parameters have been extracted from the MD simulations: the number of point defects that remain after the displacement event is completed and the fraction of the surviving interstitials that are contained in clusters. The MD values have been normalized to the number of atomic displacements calculated with the secondary displacement model by Norgett, Robinson, and Torrens (NRT).