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This paper presents a microstructural study of a surveillance test specimen from the Loviisa-1 reactor in Finland, which is a Russian-type pressurized water reactor (VVER-440), after initial irradiation to a neutron fluence of 2.5×1019 n/cm2 (E >1MeV), post-irradiation annealing at 475°C for 100h and re-irradiation to three different fluences up to 2.7×1019 n/cm2. Atom probe tomography (APT) and positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS) were used to characterize the test specimens. APT results showed the formation of Cu-rich solute clusters (SCs) during the initial irradiation and their subsequent coarsening during annealing. After re-irradiation, a small number of SCs formed once again. The hardening due to the SCs was estimated using the Russell-Brown model based on the APT results, and was in good agreement with the measured hardening after the initial irradiation and post-irradiation annealing. In contrast, during the first-step of re-irradiation, the estimated hardening due to the SCs was smaller than the measured hardening. This suggested that the hardening after re-irradiation was due to some microstructure other than the observed SCs. This difference was attributed to newly-formed matrix defects during re-irradiation, which was supported by the PAS results. However in subsequent steps of re-irradiation, the hardening was almost constant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: We present a microstructural study of a surveillance test specimen from a reactor pressure vessel steel of a Russian-type nuclear reactor after neutron irradiation, post-irradiation annealing and re-irradiation, using atom probe tomography (APT) and positron annihilation spectroscopy (PAS). The APT results showed the formation of Cu-rich solute nano-clusters (CRCs) during the initial irradiation and their subsequent coarsening during annealing. After re-irradiation, new CRCs have been observed. The irradiation-hardening almost recovered during annealing. However, by re-irradiation, hardening comparable to that by the initial irradiation was observed. The hardening due to the CRCs formed during the initial irradiation, estimated using the Russell–Brown model, was almost the same as that observed. However, the estimated hardening after the re-irradiation was about half of the measured one. The other hardening is attributed to the newly formed MDs by the re-irradiation, which was evidenced by PAS. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]