Irradiation creep induced nano-/microstructure and property changes in nuclear graphite

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Nuclear graphite has been employed as a moderator and structural components in more than 100 nuclear reactors worldwide and they are also projected to use in new Generation IV high-temperature reactors (HTRs). Irradiation-induced creep, among one of the three most important properties of graphite under irradiation, has the least amount of experimental data due to its extremely complex and time-consuming requirements for irradiation tests. So far there are only irradiation creep data on three types of graphite grades: German ATR-2E (up to 200x1020 n-cm2), UK PGA and UK Gilsocarbon (up to 60x1020 n-cm2). In this project, the PhD student will have access to the precious neutron irradiated crept Gislocarbon graphite samples (irradiated in the 5-year ACCENT project and have extensive bulk PIE examination data available) to understand the irradiation creep-induced micro-/nano-structural changes before turnaround, to support the use of new graphites in HTRs internationally.