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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Deep geologic repository progress—2025 Update
Editor's note: This article has was originally published in November 2023. It has been updated with new information as of June 2025.
Outside my office, there is a display case filled with rock samples from all over the world. It contains a disk of translucent, orange salt from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.; a core of white-and-bronze gneiss from the site of the future deep geologic repository in Eurajoki, Finland; several angular chunks of fine-grained, gray claystone from the underground research laboratory at Bure, France; and a piece of coarse-grained granite from the underground research tunnel in Daejeon, South Korea.
P.J. Maziasz, A.F. Rowcliffe, M.L. Grossbeck, G.E.C. Bell, E.E. Bloom, D.C. Lousteau, A. Hishinuma, T. Kondo, R.F. Mattas, D.L. Smith
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1571-1579
Material and Tritium | Proceedings of the Ninth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Oak Brook, Illinois, October 7-11, 1990) | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29565
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New data on radiation-induced hardening, low-temperature creep and potential susceptibility (sensitization) to aqueous corrosion have been obtained on various heats of austenitic stainless steel (including type 316) irradiated at 60–400°C to 7–13 dpa. The data were obtained from spectral-tailoring reactor experiments, whose radiation-damage parameters are similar to those in the proposed International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) first-wall (FW) and blanket design. Austenitic stainless steels were found to increase significantly in strength at 60–330°C, to have higher irradiation-creep rates at 60°C than at 200–400°C, and to show radiation-induced changes in electrochemical properties at 200–400°C. These data on several radiation-induced property changes suggest that type 316 steel may be an adequate material for the FW of ITER. However, there is definitely a need for new data on fracture-toughness and on fatigue behavior below 400°C, as well as more data on irradiation-creep and effects of irradiation on corrosion properties, to better define temperature and dose dependencies for more detailed design analyses. Cold-working should remain an optional as-fabricated condition for the FW of ITER. Many properties of SA and CW 316 become similar after irradiation at 60–400°C. The higher initial yield-strength of CW 316 will allow higher design stress and elastic strain limits.