22.08.2015   Comprehensive nuclear materials

Vanadium for Nuclear Systems

Abbreviations

DBTT

Ductile-brittle transition temperature

dpa

Displacement per atom

flibe

Molten LiF-BeF2 salt mixture

GTA

Gas tungsten arc

HFIR

High Flux Isotope Reactor

HIP

Hot isostatic pressing

IFMIF

International Fusion Matrials Irradiation

Facility

IP

Imaging plate

ITER

International Thermonuclear

Experimental Reactor

LMFBR

Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor

MA

Mechanical alloying

PWHT

Postweld heat treatment

RAFM

Reduced activation ferritic/martensitic

REDOX

Reduction-oxidation reaction

TBM

Test Blanket Module

TBR

Tritium breeding ratio

TEM

Transmission electron microscope

4.12.1

Introduction

Vanadium

alloys were candidates for cladding

materials

of Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors

(LMFBR)

in the 1970s.1 However, the development

was suspended mainly because of an unresolved issue

of corrosion with liquid sodium. Vanadium alloys attracted attention in the 1980s again for use in fusion reactors because of their ‘low activation’ properties. At present, vanadium alloys are considered as one of the three promising candidate low activation structural materials for fusion reactors with reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steels and SiC/SiC composites. Overviews of vanadium alloys for fusion reactor applications are available in the recent proceedings papers of ICFRM (International Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials).2-6 This chapter highlights the recent progress in the devel­opment of vanadium alloys mainly for application in fusion nuclear systems.