Nuclear Materials Degradation

The utilization of nuclear energy is one of the most efficient ways to reduce global carbon emission. Nuclear energy is more reliable than solar energy and wind energy, since it is not limited by time and place. To ensure the long-term safe operation of nuclear power plant (i.e., 40 to 60 years, or even longer), the integrity and durability of nuclear materials used in nuclear power plant are decisive. Regarding the safety issues threatening the operation of nuclear power plant, material degradation stands out and can cause catastrophic accidents. The interactions of different materials with their surrounding service environments and applied loadings raise the complexity of the degradation of nuclear materials and the difficulty to accurately assess the service life of these materials. To achieve this, it is of great significance to control the water chemistry of the operating environments, to investigate the corrosion behaviors of these nuclear-grade materials, to clarify the roles of key alloying elements in materials in their corrosion processes, and to determine the degradation mechanisms. These are essential for the nuclear safety management and are indispensable for the life prediction of the nuclear materials.

The aim of this Research Topic is to provide a communication platform for researchers from all over the world who are working on nuclear material degradation. Nuclear materials include both metallic and non-metallic materials used in reactors (e.g., PWR, BWR and fast reactors). The degradation here refers to corrosion, stress corrosion cracking, fretting wear, corrosion fatigue, galvanic corrosion, flow accelerated corrosion and other types of failure modes. Both experimental and simulating methods are suitable. High-level nuclear waste disposal, new manufacture procedures to fabricate nuclear materials (i.e., 3D printing, graphene) and other related issues are also in the scope of this special issue.

The content includes but not is limited to:
• Corrosion and stress corrosion
• Corrosion fatigue
• Irradiation accelerated corrosion and SCC
• Flow induced vibration and fretting wear/fatigue
• Water chemistry management
• High level nuclear waste disposal
• Advanced characterization technology for reveling degradation mechanisms
• Usage of new techniques and materials in nuclear power plant
• Material degradation mechanism for advanced fast reactors