Characterization of neutron-irradiated ferritic model alloys and a RPV steel from combined APT, SANS, TEM and PAS analyses

Understanding the behaviour of reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels under irradiation is a mandatory task that has to be elucidated in order to be able to operate safely a nuclear power plant or to extend its lifetime. To build up predictive tools, a substantial experimental data base is needed at the nanometre scale to validate the theoretical models and to extract quantitative information on neutron irradiated materials. To reach this experimental goal, ferritic model alloys and French RPV steel were neutron irradiated in a test reactor at an irradiation flux of 9 x 1017 n.m-2.s, doses from 0.18 to 1.3 x 1024 n.m-2 and 300°C. The main goal of this paper is to report the characterisation of the radiation induced microstructural change in the materials by using the state of the art of characterisation techniques available in Europe at the nanometre scale. Possibilities, limitations and complementarities of the techniques to each other are highlighted.