Characterization of 08Cr16Ni11Mo3 stainless steel irradiated in the BN-350 reactor

In several recently published studies conducted on a Soviet analog of AISI 321 stainless steel irradiated in either fast reactors or light water reactors, it was shown that the void swelling phenomenon extended to temperatures as low as ∼300° C, when produced by neutron irradiation at dpa rates in the range 10−7 to 10−8 dpa/s. Other studies yielded similar results for AISI 316. In the current study a blanket duct assembly from BN-350, constructed from the Soviet analog of AISI 316, also exhibits swelling at dpa rates on the order of 10−8 dpa/s, with voids seen as low as 281 °C and only 1.3 dpa. It appears that low-temperature swelling at low dpa rates occurs in 300 series stainless steels in general, and during irradiations conducted in either fast or mixed spectrum reactors.