Safe and long term operation of nuclear reactors is one of the most discussed challenges in nuclear power engineering. The radiation degradation of nuclear design materials limits the operational lifetime of all nuclear installations or at least decreases its safety margin. This paper is a review of experimental PALS/PLEPS studies of different nuclear reactor pressure vessel (RPV) steels investigated over last twenty years in our laboratories. Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) via its characteristics (lifetimes of positrons and their intensities) provides useful information about type and density of radiation induced defects. The new results obtained on neutron-irradiated and hydrogen ions implanted German steels were compared to those from the previous studies with the aim to evaluate different processes (neutron flux/fluence, thermal treatment or content of selected alloying elements) to the microstructural changes of neutron irradiated RPV steel specimens. The possibility of substitution of neutron treatment (connected to new defects creation) via hydrogen ions implantation was analyzed as well. The same materials exposed to comparable displacement damage (dpa) introduced by neutrons and accelerated hydrogen ions shown that in the results interpretation the effect of hydrogen as a vacancy-stabilizing gas must be considered, too. This approach could contribute to future studies of nuclear fission/fusion design steels treated by high levels of neutron irradiation.

中文翻译：

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正电子ni没光谱研究反应堆压力容器钢的辐射损伤

核反应堆的安全和长期运行是核电工程中讨论最多的挑战之一。核设计材料的辐射降解会限制所有核装置的使用寿命，或者至少会降低其安全裕度。本文是对过去20年来在我们实验室中研究的不同核反应堆压力容器（RPV）钢进行的实验PALS / PLEPS研究的综述。正电子an没寿命谱（PALS）通过其特性（正电子的寿命及其强度）提供了有关辐射诱发缺陷的类型和密度的有用信息。将通过中子辐照和氢离子注入的德国钢所获得的新结果与先前研究的结果进行了比较，目的是评估不同过程（中子通量/注量，热处理或所选合金元素的含量）对中子辐照的RPV钢试样的显微组织变化。还分析了通过氢离子注入替代中子处理（与新的缺陷产生相关）的可能性。受到中子和加速氢离子引入的可比位移破坏（dpa）的相同材料表明，在结果解释中，也必须考虑氢作为空位稳定气体的影响。这种方法可能有助于将来通过高水平中子辐照处理的核裂变/融合设计钢的研究。还分析了通过氢离子注入替代中子处理（与新的缺陷产生相关）的可能性。受到中子和加速氢离子引入的可比位移破坏（dpa）的相同材料表明，在结果解释中，也必须考虑氢作为空位稳定气体的影响。这种方法可能有助于将来通过高水平中子辐照处理的核裂变/融合设计钢的研究。还分析了通过氢离子注入替代中子处理（与新的缺陷产生相关）的可能性。受到中子和加速氢离子引入的可比位移破坏（dpa）的相同材料表明，在结果解释中，也必须考虑氢作为空位稳定气体的影响。这种方法可能有助于将来通过高水平中子辐照处理的核裂变/融合设计钢的研究。