Olga Ogorodniková on materials for fusion reactors

On Wednesday, June 14, 2023, Olga V. Ogorodniková from the Department of Nuclear Reactions presented the topic of materials under extreme conditions at another of the NPI´s joint seminars. The topic aroused considerable interest: some of our employees attended the seminar in person, while others took advantage of the opportunity to participate online via the Zoom platform.

Damage caused by high fluxes of neutrons and particles or high temperatures is one of the key problems determining the lifetime of materials used in fission and upcoming fusion reactors. The lecturer presented new findings on the formation of primary defects in pure bcc metals (W, Mo and Fe) irradiated with ions, protons and neutrons, and methods for diagnosing the properties of defects. Our fast neutron generators, using p+Be reactions, were newly used in these investigations. Together with the PALS (Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy) method, they prove to be a very suitable and sensitive tool to investigate the initial stages of defect development.

Tungsten-based coatings and alloys are promising materials in future fusion devices, low-activated ferritic-martensitic steels (RAFM) together with steel strengthened by oxide dispersion (ODS) with the addition of Y₂O₃ particles are also considered promising.

At NPI, O. Ogorodniková also participates in the work of the SPIRAL2-CZ team, which cooperates on behalf of the Czech Republic in building the large SPIRAL2 neutron infrastructure in Caen, France.