Structural materials for liquid metal cooled fast reactor fuel assemblies

This publication summarizes the findings of several IAEA meetings on fast reactor materials and provides a review of historically available and new information on the properties, fabrication technologies and irradiation behaviour of stainless steel structural materials for liquid metal cooled fast reactor (LMFR) fuel assemblies. It identifies different varieties of austenitic, ferritic–martensitic, oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels and nickel based alloys used or planned to be used as fuel cladding and structural components of fast reactor fuel assemblies; describes manufacturing processes of LMFR fuel cladding tubes and in-core components; and provides an overview of the operational behaviour of these materials in fast reactors. Particular attention is given to ODS steels as the promising path towards achieving higher fuel burnup in fast reactors.