📋 Tender Overview
Project Type
Coordinated Research Project
Project Code
F13021
CRP
2348
Approved Date
9 February 2022
Status
Active - Ongoing
Start Date
14 June 2022
Expected End Date
1 September 2026
Participating Countries
ArgentinaBelgiumChinaGermanyHungaryJapanSpainUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandUnited States of America
Description
Fission neutrons for materials testing have been available for decades in hundreds of experimental reactors worldwide; an extensive database for irradiated materials is available. Unfortunately, experimental Fusion reactors for materials testing do not exist. Testing facilities with a 14 MeV neutron source for irradiating candidate materials under Fusion-reactor conditions and offering control of the temperature of the irradiated material have been subject of development for four decades, but now have become an urgent need and crucial feature in world Fusion roadmaps. The available volumes for testing will be inherently reduced; in the design of IFMIF (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility) or its simplified versions the Japanese A-FNS or the European IFMIF/DONES, a maximum of 500 cm3 will allow the irradiation of structural materials at the needed dpa values. The optimization of the limited testing space makes the use of small specimens a stringent necessity.
The limited testing volume with needed neutron fluxes in accelerator driven Fusion relevant neutron sources drove the development of small specimens for fusion applications. The first review of the state-of-the-art dates from 1983. The development has continued in a steady manner in various laboratories worldwide yielding similar results, but without a standard procedure. Since 1983, more than 10 specific Symposia have taken place, mainly organized by ASTM, but no harmonization of small specimens test techniques has yet ever been accomplished.
The nuclear industry, and in particular Fusion, has detected that the lack of common practice and standards in Small Specimen Test Techniques (SSTT) is preventing them to be able to compare and to use data in a rigorous manner. Standards reduce the risk of rejection of data gathered by validation and QA procedures of Nuclear Code Frameworks, prevents from likely repetition of tests and, therefore, accelerates material development and qualification cycles.
This CRP is a continuation of the effort started already in the previous CRP F1.30.17 on Towards the Standardization of Small Specimen Test Techniques for Fusion Applications . In this second phase of the project focus shall be on the applicability of guidelines and methodologies drafted so far under high temperature (HT) conditions and suited for hot cell (HC) environment as well as closing some gaps in the output of CRP F1.30.17
Objectives
The overall objective of this research proposal is to provide the bases for the standardization of SSTT specimens making them available for their use in Fusion material irradiation facil
