Mechanistic understanding of irradiation-induced corrosion of zirconium alloys in nuclear power plants: Stimuli, status, and outlook

Failures in the basic materials used in nuclear power plants continue to be costly and insidious, despite increasing industry vigilance to catch failures before they degrade safety. For instance, the overall costs to the US industry from materials problems could amount to as much as $10 billion annually. Moreover, estimates indicate that the cost of a pipe failure in a nuclear plant is one hundred times greater than the cost of a similar failure in a coal-fired plant. There are important practical stimuli and much scope for further understanding of the effects of irradiation on Zr-alloys (and other materials used in nuclear installations) by careful experimentation. Moreover, these studies need to address the effect of irradiation on all components of heterogeneous systems: the metal, the oxide and the environment, and especially those processes recurring at the interphases between these components. The present paper is aimed at providing specialists with some systematic information on the subject and with important considerations on the key items for further experimentation.