Recent progress in US–Japan collaborative research on ferritic steels R&D

The mechanisms of irradiation embrittlement of two Japanese RAFSs were different from each other. The larger DBTT shift observed in F82H is interpreted by means of both hardening effects and a reduction of cleavage fracture stress by M23C6 carbides precipitation along lath block and packet boundaries, while that of JLF-1 is due to only the hardening effect. Dimensional change measurement during in-pile creep tests revealed the creep strain of F82H was limited at 300 °C. Performance of the weld bond under neutron irradiation will be critical to determine the life time of blanket structural components. Application of the ODS steels, which are resistant to corrosion in supercritical pressurized water, to the water-cooled blanket is essential to increase thermal efficiency of the blanket systems beyond DEMO. The coupling of RAFS and ODS steel could be effective to realize a highly efficient fusion blanket.