energies

Review
Materials for Sustainable Nuclear Energy: A European Strategic
Research and Innovation Agenda for All Reactor Generations
Lorenzo Malerba 1, * , Abderrahim Al Mazouzi 2 , Marjorie Bertolus 3 , Marco Cologna 4 , Pål Efsing 5 ,
Adrian Jianu 6 , Petri Kinnunen 7 , Karl-Fredrik Nilsson 8 , Madalina Rabung 9 and Mariano Tarantino 10

1 Division of Energy Materials, Technology Department, CIEMAT, Avda. Complutense 40, 28040 Madrid, Spain
2 EDF Lab. Les Renardières, Department of Materials and Mechanics of Components, 1, Avenue des
Renardières–Ecuelles, CEDEX, 77818 Moret-Loing-et-Orvanne, France; abderrahim.al-mazouzi@edf.fr
3 Atomic and Alternative Energy Commission, CEA, DEs, IRESNE, DEC/SESC,
13108 Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance, France; marjorie.bertolus@cea.fr
4 European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Karlsruhe, Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1,
76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany; marco.cologna@ec.europa.eu
5 Ringhals AB/NUQ, 432 58 Väröbacka, Sweden; pal.efsing@vattenfall.com
6 Institute for Pulsed Power and Microwave Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT),
Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany; adrian.jianu@partner.kit.edu
7 Nuclear Energy, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland Ltd., 02044 Espoo, Finland; petri.kinnunen@vtt.fi
8 European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 1755 LE Petten, The Netherlands;
karl-fredrik.nilsson@ec.europa.eu
9 Fraunhofer-Institute for Nondestructive Testing (IZFP), Campus E3 1, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany;
madalina.rabung@izfp.fraunhofer.de
10 Innovative Projects Section, Fusion and Technology for Nuclear Safety and Security Department, ENEA,
Brasimone, 40032 Camugnano, BO, Italy; mariano.tarantino@enea.it
* Correspondence: lorenzo.malerba@ciemat.es; Tel.: +34-91-346-6608






Citation: Malerba, L.; Al Mazouzi, A.; Abstract: Nuclear energy is presently the single major low-carbon electricity source in Europe and
Bertolus, M.; Cologna, M.; Efsing, P.; is overall expected to maintain (perhaps eventually even increase) its current installed power from
Jianu, A.; Kinnunen, P.; Nilsson, K.-F.; now to 2045. Long-term operation (LTO) is a reality in essentially all nuclear European countries,
Rabung, M.; Tarantino, M. Materials even when planning to phase out. New builds are planned. Moreover, several European countries,
for Sustainable Nuclear Energy: A
including non-nuclear or phasing out ones, have interests in next generation nuclear systems. In
European Strategic Research and
this framework, materials and material science play a crucial role towards safer, more efficient, more
Innovation Agenda for All Reactor
economical and overall more sustainable nuclear energy. This paper proposes a research agenda
Generations. Energies 2022, 15, 1845.
that combines modern digital technologies with materials science practices to pursue a change
https://doi.org/10.3390/en15051845
of paradigm that promotes innovation, equally serving the different nuclear energy interests and
Academic Editor: Sung Joong Kim positions throughout Europe. This paper chooses to overview structural and fuel materials used in
Received: 15 January 2022 current generation reactors, as well as their wider spectrum for next generation reactors, summarising
Accepted: 11 February 2022 the relevant issues. Next, it describes the materials science approaches that are common to any
Published: 2 March 2022 nuclear materials (including classes that are not addressed here, such as concrete, polymers and
functional materials), identifying for each of them a research agenda goal. It is concluded that
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral
among these goals are the development of structured materials qualification test-beds and materials
with regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional affil-
acceleration platforms (MAPs) for materials that operate under harsh conditions. Another goal is
iations. the development of multi-parameter-based approaches for materials health monitoring based on
different non-destructive examination and testing (NDE&T) techniques. Hybrid models that suitably
combine physics-based and data-driven approaches for materials behaviour prediction can valuably
support these developments, together with the creation and population of a centralised, “smart”
Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. database for nuclear materials.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article Keywords: nuclear materials; nuclear materials science approaches; digital techniques; strategic
distributed under the terms and
research agenda
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
4.0/).

Energies 2022, 15, 1845. https://doi.org/10.3390/en15051845 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/energies

Energies 2022, 15, 1845 2 of 48

1. Introduction
1.1. Towards Sustainable Nuclear Energy
With 685 TWhe produced in 2020, which corresponds to 1⁄4 of the total production from
all sources, nuclear energy is the single largest source of low-carbon electricity in the Euro-
pean Union; see Figure 1 [1]. Thus, nuclear energy is playing an important role, in alliance
with all renewables, towards climate-neutrality in Europe by 2050. Despite widespread
perception that nuclear energy is being abandoned in this continent, due to the undeniable
decline in the last 20–15 years and especially after the Fukushima accident, an analysis of
the national energy and climate plans (NECP) and other official sources [2–4] reveals that,
by 2045, the number of operating reactors in Europe will probably be only between 5% and
12% less than now, with almost unaffected total installed power capacity [5]. Recent deci-
sions of some countries suggest that it may even eventually increase in the medium-to-long
term. This will happen via long-term operation (LTO), i.e., pro-active extension of the life-
time of reactors, as well as power uprates of operating reactors and new builds. As a matter
of fact, while some countries are progressively phasing out, others will keep using nuclear
power, or even expand their fleet. The likely European Union (EU) decision to include
nuclear energy in the taxonomy for sustainable finance will probably facilitate and perhaps
amplify this process. LTO is indeed recommended by the International Energy Agency
(IEA) as an important affordable contributor to progressive electricity decarbonisation and
in the EU the economic case for nuclear lifetime extension is especially strong, even if
the decrease in wind and solar photovoltaic costs accelerates [6]. Accordingly, LTO is a
reality in essentially all nuclear European countries, even some of those that are eventually
planning to phase out [5]. In addition, several European countries, including non-nuclear
ones, or countries that are planning to phase out, have research and development interests
in next generation nuclear systems, of the kind described further on. In this framework,
it is here put forward that the concerned research community in Europe needs to be at
the forefront and ready to support with effective and cutting-edge strategic agendas the
continental nuclear developments, in order to guarantee ever increasing sustainability.

Figure 1. Electricity generation by fuel in the European Union in 2020 [1]. The sum of renewables
(wind, solar and hydro) exceeds the contribution of nuclear, which, however, represents the single
major low-carbon electricity source.
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 3 of 48

Five concerns regarding nuclear energy are widespread in the public opinion, and
often also among the decision-makers, of several European countries and hamper the
full-hearted use of nuclear as a sustainable part of the energy transition. They therefore
need to be seriously addressed. These are: safety of operation and severe accident risk;
management of long-lived nuclear waste; economics (especially for initial investments
and back-end costs) and long construction times; limitation of fuel resources; and possible
misuse of fissile materials.
In the short term, these issues need to be addressed with current light water-cooled
reactors (LWR) of second or third generation (GenII/III) and the Gen III+ new builds. There
are indeed still ample margins, through research and development, to increase substantially
the safety, performance, economy and sustainability of nuclear reactors of established
technology, as well as to further reduce their already low impact on the environment.
Continuous improvements of operational practices and nuclear safety of current reactors,
in the context of an increased flexibility of the network, are routinely pursued by the
European nuclear industry and are already the object of extensive research in Europe and
elsewhere [7–10]. Deep geological disposal of highly radioactive waste is on the other
hand recognised as a safe and secure long-term solution by most nuclear countries [11,12],
even though some wish to postpone its implementation and evaluate other options [12].
Finally, small and medium-size modular reactors (SMR) that use light water as coolant
and moderator are at reach of known technology and may be a relatively short-term
answer to the high capital costs and long construction times that currently hamper new
nuclear builds, especially in Europe, while offering better flexibility and adaptability to
different uses, in co-habitation and collaboration with intermittent renewables [13,14].
SMRs feature a power output between 10 (or less) and 300 MWe and a construction
based on the idea of higher degrees of modularisation, simplification and standardisation
compared to larger nuclear reactors [13]. A sub-class of them is denoted as micro-reactors:
these would produce 1–20 MWe and would be fully factory fabricated, transportable
and self-adjusting [13–15]. SMRs are largely perceived as game-changers by the nuclear
industry, provided that national legislations accompany and facilitate standardised modular
construction needs in terms of regulations, while global deployment will require a certain
degree of harmonised licensing [13]. Three water-cooled SMRs are being designed in
Europe [16–18]. Water-cooled SMRs may also be used for combined electricity and heat
generation, thus expanding the uses of nuclear energy to applications such as hydrogen
production via high temperature steam electrolysis [19,20], sea water desalination (largely
already a reality) [21] and district heating [17,22,23].
In the longer term, the above nuclear energy issues can be dealt with, and the overall
sustainability greatly increased, through the commissioning and deployment of fourth
generation (Gen IV), liquid metal or molten salt cooled, fast neutron reactors, along with
the facilities that are needed to close the nuclear fuel cycle [24]. By pushing the burnup
to high values, i.e., letting the fuel remain for longer in the reactor to extract more energy,
fast reactors can produce more 239 Pu from the 238 U by neutron capture than fissile nuclei
consumed by fission [25]. Fast neutron systems thus enable circular economy: through
recycling, they significantly improve the utilization of natural resources, strongly reducing
the need of mining and ensuring fuel availability and self-sufficiency for centuries and
perhaps millennia. Different fuel designs and appropriate reprocessing strategies can
furthermore make the diversion of fissile materials more difficult [26,27]. Another virtue of
these systems is that, since Pu is eventually removed from the fuel for reuse, they enable
the long term radiotoxic impact of waste to be abated. This is especially true when minor
actinides (heavy elements present in low quantity, but significantly contributing to long
term radiotoxicity and heat production) are transmuted in the reactor itself into shorter
lived fission products, after sufficiently high burnup [28], or using dedicated devices
such as accelerator driven systems [28,29]. These practices can reduce the volume of
remaining radioactive waste and the emitted heat flux by one order of magnitude, and
the radiotoxicity timespan to a few hundred years [28], thereby significantly relieving the
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 4 of 48

requirements of anyway necessary geological disposals. Moreover, GenIV reactors will

feature high safety standards because the use of liquid metals (generally either sodium
or lead alloys) or molten salts as coolants enables operation at atmospheric pressure and
facilitates the design of passive systems [30]. Fast reactors must indeed use non-aqueous
coolants, because moderation (neutron slowdown) is not sought for [25]. This obliges to
operation at temperatures well-above those of current LWR (about 300 ◦ C), because liquid
metals or molten salts need to remain fluid and must thus be kept above their melting
point, in ranges between 400 and 500 ◦ C as inlet temperature. With these fluids it is thus
envisaged that outlet temperatures up to 700 ◦ C or above should be reached, thereby
increasing significantly the thermal efficiency with respect to current LWRs. In summary,
GenIV systems significantly reduce the quantity of the transuranic waste and its long-
term hazard, optimise the use of fuel resources available on earth and enable high safety
standards. They are thus expected to be attractive for the public opinion at large, as a fully
sustainable low-carbon source of energy. Some experience on these reactors exists already
(see Table 1). Sodium-cooled fast reactors have been operated in Europe [31] and are still
operated outside [32], while a lead-cooled fast reactor demonstrator is being constructed in
Russia [33]. However, for a number of reasons that span from technological to economic
and political, no widespread commercial deployment of GenIV systems seems likely until
beyond the mid of this century, at least not in Europe. GenIV reactors, therefore, will hardly
contribute to the decarbonisation of society and economy by 2050. Nor will fusion, which,
by targeting for 2050 the demonstration of the connection to the grid for the first time [34],
is unlikely to be commercially viable and deployed before the end of the present century.
Annex 1 describes the GenIV prototypes that are being designed in Europe.
Gas-cooled reactors target high operation temperature and are somehow a bridge
between current and future nuclear generation. Graphite moderated power reactors cooled
with CO2 exist and are still operated in the UK. They reach outlet temperatures in excess of
600 ◦ C [35]. High temperature reactors (HTR) that also used graphite as moderator, but
adopted different fuel designs and employed He as coolant, have been operated in the
past, with outlet temperatures round 750 ◦ C [36–38]. They are thus known technology
and can therefore be already considered for low-carbon industrial heat production in
addition to electricity (cogeneration), including hydrogen production by thermal, rather
than electrolytical, processes, provided that they are considered attractive enough by
industrial heat and hydrogen consumers. Importantly, the SMR concept can be extended to
any nuclear technology, leading to the design of advanced modular reactors (AMRs) that
use non-aqueous coolants. Therefore, small and modular graphite moderated, gas-cooled
HTRs that operate above 600 ◦ C appear as an especially attractive technology that is already
at reach to flexibly provide carbon-free industrial or district heat [13,14,21,39]. One has
recently started to be operated in China [40]. High safety levels are guaranteed by the
combination of the high thermal stability of graphite with the reduced power of the system,
which should indeed enable significant reduction of the Emergency Planning Zone [41],
and ideally its removal. In a somewhat longer term, liquid metal or molten salt cooled AMR
also appear to be attractive solutions [13,14,42]. In addition, the GenIV portfolio foresees
two so far never built gas-cooled concepts: the very high temperature reactor (VHTR) [43]
and the gas-cooled fast reactor (GFR) [44]. Both target temperatures in excess of 800 ◦ C,
possibly even in excess of 1000 ◦ C. They could both provide heat for a wide variety of
industrial applications, in addition to producing electricity with very high efficiency, on the
order of current combined-cycle fossil gas plants (~50%–60%). The GFR would additionally
include the benefits of waste reduction and optimal use of resources of fast systems, such
as those described above. Yet, they are both considered very long-term developments.
Finally, another GenIV concept that is often considered as an evolution of LWR, and thus
in principle more readily available, is the super-critical water-cooled reactor (SCWR) [45].
Table 1 summarises the main features of GenIV technology concepts and illustrates the
existing experience. Annex 1 includes some information on related design work in Europe.
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 5 of 48

In this planned journey towards safer, more efficient, more economical and overall
more sustainable nuclear energy, materials and material science, thus research on materials,
play a crucial role. This is discussed in the next section.

Table 1. Main features of next generation nuclear systems and existing experience, following GenIV-
related nomenclature and references [43–47].

System Neutron Reactor Type Power Reactors

Coolant
Abbreviation Spectrum Already Built in Operation
SFR Liquid sodium Fast Yes [31,32] Yes [32]
LFR Liquid lead Fast No 1 No
GFR Gas (He or other) Fast No No
SCWR Super-critical water Thermal or Fast No No
MSR Molten salt Thermal or Fast Yes [46] No
HTR Gas (He or other) Thermal Yes [36–38] Yes [40]
VHTR Gas (He or other) Thermal No No
ADS Lead-bismuth eutectic Fast No 1 No
Fusion Water/He/Pb-Li/ . . . (Very) fast No No
1 PbBi was used as coolant in submarine fast reactors [47]. LFR is under construction in Russia [33].

1.2. Role of Materials and Materials Science for Sustainable Nuclear Energy
One of the main reasons why not all GenIV systems are technologically ready, yet, and
that determines the shorter- or longer-term deployment of these systems, is the fact that
the targeted high temperatures, combined with very high neutron dose in core components
(due to the high burnup) and with the use of non-aqueous coolants, will subject materials
and components to especially degrading conditions. Currently, no material of industrial
production can sustain the target GenIV operating conditions for sufficiently long time to
provide the reliability and availability that is required from crucial components, so as to
ensure economical commercial viability of systems of this type. Thus, the availability of
materials with superior resistance to irradiation and corrosion in a wide enough temper-
ature window is an essential point to make GenIV reactors a reality [48]. The realization
of thermonuclear fusion on earth largely shares similar, if amplified, challenges [34,49,50].
In all cases, demonstrators targeting less ambitious operating conditions need to be built,
proceeding by stages that include materials and component progressive qualification for in-
creasingly demanding conditions, before commercial plants can be designed (see Annex 1).
Thus, the availability of a large palette of materials for various objectives, with superior
resistance to irradiation and corrosion in a wide enough temperature window, is crucial to
make nuclear energy fully sustainable.
Concerning current generation reactors, lifetime extension can be (and indeed has been)
granted with current materials technology, while light water-cooled or high-temperature
gas-cooled SMRs can be designed by making use of known materials. However, innovative
materials solutions that, starting from established references, enable safety and efficiency
to be increased, or costs to be abated, with equal or improved efficiency and safety, or
that importantly ensure that the component supply chain can be efficiently maintained or
improved, are an asset for current generation nuclear energy, as well. These importantly
include the use of advanced manufacturing techniques. Tools that are capable of better
predicting the behaviour of materials and components in operation and in accidental
scenarios are an obvious support to increased safety. In addition, aspects of circularity and
life cycle assessment necessarily require specific attention in connection with sustainable
decarbonisation using nuclear. These range from a closer attention to the supply of raw
minerals, to the optimization of component lifetime by appropriate maintenance and
replacement, via monitoring of materials’ and components’ health in operation, and to
recyclability or (if possible) reusability, thus anticipating decommissioning issues. These
are all issues to be addressed with the tools of materials science. Thus materials science is
crucial to increase the sustainability of nuclear systems of any generation and type.
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 6 of 48

In 2019 the Joint Programme on Nuclear Materials of the European Energy Research
Alliance (EERA JPNM)—see Annex 2—produced a Strategic Research Agenda to ensure
that suitable structural and fuel materials are available for the design, licensing, construction
and safe long-term operation of GenIV nuclear systems [51]. In parallel, the Sustainable
Nuclear Energy Technology Platform (SNETP) and its three pillars—see Annex 2—updated
their Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda, addressing the whole spectrum of nuclear
reactor generations, including considerations on materials of specific relevance for current
generation reactors [52]. In 2021 a more structured discussion was launched concerning
the need to organise the European nuclear materials research community into a better
structured collaboration framework, with a single vision through reactor generations,
as part of the ORIENT-NM project [53]. This paper summarises the salient points that
emerged from these documents and discussions concerning nuclear materials in Europe,
exemplified by structural and fuel materials. As a result, we propose a research agenda
that, based on the exploitation of modern digital technologies combined to materials
science practices, pursues a change of paradigm, which is deemed suitable to promote
innovation and should be the way to go for the future in the nuclear materials field, in
Europe and elsewhere. The structure of the paper is as follows: Section 2 overviews the
type of structural and fuel materials that are used in current generation reactors, and the
wider spectrum of those that are likely to be used in next generation ones, summarizing the
relevant issues; Section 3 describes the materials science approaches that are common to all
nuclear materials, identifying for each of them what the goal of a research agenda should
be; these goals are finally discussed in Section 4 in terms of opportunity and feasibility,
leading to the conclusion in Section 5.

2. Materials for Current and Future Nuclear Systems

2.1. Structural and Fuel Materials for Current Generation Reactors and Relevant Issues
LWRs, which are water-cooled and also water-moderated, represent more than 80%
of the operating nuclear power plants (NPP) worldwide (GenII/III). The most common
reactor design is the pressurised water reactor (PWR, about 80% of the LWRs), followed
by the boiling water reactor (BWR, 20%). Heavy-water cooled and moderated reactors
(e.g., CANDU, CANadian Deuterium Uranium) are the only other design that represents a
non-negligible fraction of the global share of operating NPPs (about 11% of the total). The
remaining ones are graphite moderated, either gas-cooled or water-cooled reactors. All of
these types exist (or existed at some point in time) in Europe (EU and associated countries).
The trend in new builds is towards almost exclusively PWRs (GenIII+).
The main pressure boundary components in LWRs, i.e., the reactor pressure vessel
(RPV), the pressuriser, and the steam generator shells, as well as the turbine (except the
blades) and the condenser, are generally made of low-carbon, low alloy ferritic (bainitic)
steels. The secondary circuit piping in PWR is also made from steels of this type. Austenitic
stainless steels, particularly AISI 304 and/or 316L in P/BWR, and Ti-stabilised (similar
to AISI 321) in the Russian PWRs (VVER), dominate as core structural materials, as well
as for the primary circuit and its components. Steam generator tubes are often made of
Ni-based alloys. Austenitic stainless steels and Ni-based alloys are selected because of their
good resistance to water corrosion up to high temperature. Thus, austenitic steels (AISI
308 or 309) are also used as liners on the inside surface of pressurised vessels for corrosion
protection. Low-carbon, low alloy steels have, in turn, the advantage of superior weldability
through thick sections and 4–5 times lower price than austenitic steels. Both are important
items for large components such as the pressure vessel. Fuel pin cladding in all current
LWRs are made of Zr alloys, which exhibit very low neutron absorption cross section.
In the case of heavy-water reactors of CANDU design, low-neutron absorbing Zr alloys
are used also for the pressure tubes that contain each fuel assembly, allowing the use of
natural uranium as fuel. Because of industrial constraints and safety requirements all these
materials are unlikely to be changed: it is indeed recommended that these components are
manufactured with well known, easy to use materials, the properties of which are vastly
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 7 of 48

known from many years of experience [54]. Cautious changes are however possible for new
builds, in terms of minor compositional and heat treatment tuning, within specifications,
as well as the introduction of more restrictive specifications [54]: they are part of the
continuous improvement that, in the past, led to changes of composition for materials of a
specific components, based on field experience. With a view to continuously increasing
safety, in the case of these materials and components what matters most is: (1) to be able to
predict increasingly better their behaviour in operation, in order to estimate correctly their
residual life, optimise inspection plans and foresee timely repairs and replacements, thereby
guaranteeing that all components and systems maintain their integrity and functionality
at all times and in all circumstances; (2) especially in a framework of LTO, to be able to
optimally replace and repair components, making sure that this is done in full compliance
with nuclear safety regulations. The former requirement essentially calls for continuously
improved models, based on physics as well as on experience, and automatised material
health monitoring strategies; the latter requires that the supply of materials and components
according to nuclear specifications is guaranteed over decades in a timely and affordable
way. These issues are discussed in a broader framework in Section 2.4.
Concerning fuels and fuel elements, these must: (1) Provide the power expected
during their whole stay in reactor; (2) Use the fissile elements as best as possible to reduce
the cost of energy production; (3) Confine the fission products inside the fuel elements in
all operating and accidental conditions; (4) Maintain dimensional stability within design
margins. All LWRs around the world currently use ceramic uranium dioxide (UO2 ) as
fuel, encased in the Zr-based alloy cladding. In most cases the uranium is enriched to
3–5% 235 U. Some reactors use mixed U-Pu oxide (MOX) fuels. The oxide fuel/Zr-alloy
system has been optimised over many decades and performs very well under normal
operation and anticipated transients. However, because of the highly exothermic nature
of the chemical reaction between Zr and steam, in case of temporary loss of core cooling
with uncoverage of part of it, the resulting excess generation of heat and hydrogen may
produce significant undesirable core damage. This happened in the events that followed
the Fukushima Daiichi power plant accident, caused by combined earthquake and tsunami
in 2011. Because of this, global interest has expanded in the last ten years to explore fuels
with enhanced performance during such rare events, the so-called accident-tolerant fuel
(ATF), which involves both the fuel itself and, especially, the cladding [55,56]. Both should
exhibit higher thermo-mechanical stability and be designed and qualified to remain intact
for a sufficiently long time even when subject to accident conditions. Such type of fuel,
in combination with other systems, is expected to provide sufficient time for intervention
in case of accident, avoiding too severe outcomes, while offering additional benefits in
case of more frequent off-normal situations, as well as normal operation [57]. The possible
ATF cladding materials, all of them still necessitating qualification, range from suitably
coated Zr alloys (the simplest solution from an industrial point of view), to advanced
ferritic/martensitic (F/M) steels with improved creep resistance, or refractory metals,
like Mo, or SiC fibers in bulk SiC (SiCf /SiC) composites. Interestingly, except for coated
Zr alloys, all ATF cladding materials are also considered as structural materials for next
generation reactors (see next section). On the fuel side, research on enhanced performance
has focused on improved UO2 (doped with oxides such as Cr2 O3 , Al2 O3 or SiO2 , or with
high-thermal-conductivity metallic or ceramic phases, in order to enhance the fission gas
release process by increasing the grain size and optimise mechanical properties), higher
density fuels (nitrides, carbides, silicides and metals), or microencapsulated fuels (TRISO-
SiC composites) [57,58]. The last ones are intrinsically accident tolerant and have been
already used in HTR that were operated in the past; the challenge is to develop similar
accident tolerance for LWRs
It should be noted that important materials for current generation reactors, which
are also the focus of research, are concrete for the contention building and polymers for
cables and tubes. Also important are functional materials such as for sensors or for neutron
control. These, however, are not addressed in this paper.
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 8 of 48

2.2. Structural Materials for Next Generation Nuclear Systems and Relevant Issues
GenIV liquid-metal cooled reactor demonstrators are expected to operate between
~400–550 ◦ C, with off-normal excursions up to 600 ◦ C [51]. However, the target for com-
mercial plants is an outlet temperature in the 600–700 ◦ C range, or even beyond [51,59,60].
Molten-salt cooled systems need to shift the inlet temperature above 500 ◦ C to keep
the coolant fluid and also target 700 ◦ C or higher outlet temperatures in commercial
plants [51,59,60], while gas-cooled systems target 850 ◦ C or beyond [51,61]. In the latter,
temperatures around 2200 ◦ C may be reached at the centre of the fuel in normal con-
ditions, while temperatures may exceed 1000 ◦ C in structural materials in off-normal
conditions. These temperatures, coupled to temperature gradients up to, in extreme cases,
500–1000 ◦ C/mm [62], will inflict severe thermal and mechanical stresses on the fuel and
plant components, requiring materials with high thermal stability and resistance to cyclic
loading. Cooling fluids are, in addition, chemically hostile environments, with detrimental
effects on structural materials in terms of corrosion, dissolution, or erosion [63–70]. All of
these processes lead to thickness reduction, which can be strongly penalizing, especially for
thin components such as cladding. In addition, all of these coolant effects are exacerbated
by high temperature, to the point that they are often the main limiting factor for the outlet
temperature. Inside the fuel pin, finally, chemical interactions between cladding materials
and fission products may be a concern [71], as well. On top of this, core materials are
exposed to varying levels of irradiation dose and dose rates: 1 dpa/day in the fuel [72],
100 dpa or beyond in the cladding over its time of irradiation [73], but likely less than 5 dpa
in the in-vessel structures over the whole reactor lifetime [74] (Dpa, displacements per
atom, are the unit used to measure the radiation dose received by materials, irrespective of
spectrum and type of impinging particle [49,75]). Figure 2 illustrates the operating regimes
envisaged for GenIV prototypes/demonstrators in Europe, including possible commercial
plant target conditions, as compared to current generation LWRs.
Exposure to irradiation is known to produce a number of detrimental consequences
on materials. In structural materials these range from hardening and embrittlement with
loss of elongation to changes of dimension and shape due to swelling and creep [76–81].
In addition, if the neutron spectrum leads to transmutation with production of helium (α
particles) and hydrogen(protons), depending also on material composition, the mentioned
effects may be significantly exacerbated and the temperature ranges of susceptibility in-
creased on the high side, this problem being especially serious for fusion and Ni-containing
materials [77–81]. Radiation-induced hardening with subsequent loss of elongation and
embrittlement typically occurs when irradiating at low temperature, where “low” depends
on the material [77,79,82], for instance in steels the threshold is roughly below 400 ◦ C,
but in tungsten alloys it is below 800 ◦ C [82]. Hardrning and subsequent embrittlement
appear to some extent from the very beginning of the irradiation and increase with dose,
but generally saturate at high enough dose [77,79]. In contrast, dimensional changes occur
only at high enough dose, on the order of tens of dpa [77–81]: they do not necessarily
saturate with increasing irradiation (only the rate does) and typically they only appear
above a certain irradiation temperature (about 400 ◦ C in steels) [77,83]. Clearly, these high
temperature/high dose effects, which are hardly observed in current generation reactors,
are expected to be significant in next generation ones.
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 9 of 48

Figure 2. Schematic and indicative illustration of the operating conditions envisaged in European
designs of GenIV prototypes/demonstrators, as compared to current LWRs (assuming 60 years
of operation) and commercial GenIV reactors. The temperature range is defined by inlet/outlet
temperatures. The maximum dpa concerns structural components. (Cf. Table 1 for abbreviations).

Only a few classes of materials have the potential to sustain the above described
operating conditions for the required operation time, depending on the function of the
corresponding component and the type of system [84]. These classes of materials are wide,
because no final choice has been made, yet, and because the variety of next generation
nuclear systems is significant. They only partially overlap with the materials that are being
used in current LWR, namely low alloy steels for the vessel, austenitic steels for internals,
and zirconium alloys for the cladding (see previous section), as is made explicit in Table 2.
Yet, some of these materials are also considered for ATF cladding [56]. They are briefly
overviewed in what follows.
The GenIV demonstrators and prototypes planned in Europe (Annex 1) [85,86], and
not only in Europe [87], envisage the use of austenitic steels as the dominant class of in-core
structural materials, almost irrespectively of the type of coolant. Particularly, 316L(N) is
considered for most components, in most systems, including the vessel, while 15-15 Ti
(also denoted as D9 or 1.4970) is the choice for the cladding and other fuel element parts in
essentially all designs. The reason is that these materials are a good compromise between
several requirements. However, with these materials no design solution will ever enable the
conditions that are targeted for highest efficiency and best economy in commercial GenIV
plants to be reached. Thus, prototypes and demonstrators will have to work at temperature
and irradiation dose regimes that may be significantly less ambitious than those targeted
in commercial plants (Figure 2). However, the existing return of experience from use of
these austenitic steels in fast reactors that were built and operated in the past, such as, e.g.,
Phénix and Superphénix in France [31], provides a wealth of experimental data. On these
bases, design rules have been already established for them and introduced in standard
codes: this is crucial for executive design and timely licensing. Once the demonstrator is in
place, it can be used as a laboratory for further materials upgrade, through qualification
in environment. A staged approach is thus generally adopted by designers, with a start
at temperature and irradiation levels compatible with currently available materials, to be
increased in later stages. Research on materials can thus be split into a number of steps,
thereby enabling a distinction between near term and long term application.
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 10 of 48

Table 2. Summary of classes of structural materials through reactor generations. RPV = reactor pres-
sure vessel, F/M = ferritic/martensitic, ATF = accident tolerant fuel, ODS = oxide dispersion strength-
ened, AGR = advanced gas reactor, (V)HTR = (very) high temperature reactor, GFR = gas-cooled fast
reactor, HEA = high entropy alloys, CCA = compositionally complex alloys.

Class of Materials Use in GenII/III Use in GenIV Notes

Pressure vessel, pressuriser,
Low alloy bainitic Upper limit of operation temperature
steam generator shell, turbine, None
steels window <400 ◦ C
condenser
Experience from use in thermal and
also fast reactors. Improved swelling
Core components (except Vessel, core components resistance (e.g., Ti stabilization) and
Austenitic steels
cladding), liner RPV including cladding corrosion protection in heavy liquid
metals (e.g., coatings or Al-containing
alloys) needed—see Annex 3.
Cladding, power channels in Historical example of material
Zr alloys None
heavy-water reactors development specific for nuclear [54]
Swelling-resistant, good thermal
Cladding and core physical properties. Creep (e.g., ODS),
None (but improved versions
F/M steels components where swelling and corrosion resistance (e.g.,
considered for ATF cladding)
must be low coatings or Al-containing alloys) need
improvement—see Annex 3.
Good corrosion and temperature
Steam generators, in the resistance. Susceptible to
longer term core components embrittlement due to He and H
Ni-base alloys Steam generator tubes
for high temperature production via transmutation when
operation irradiated: improvement needed (e.g.,
ODS)—see Annex 3.
Wide spectrum of possibilities:
In-core and out-of-core
Ni-base and Ti-base alloys may enter
None (but some are components (also vessels)
Refractory alloys this category, composed by Mo-, Nb-,
considered for ATF cladding) where operation temperatures
Ta- and V-alloys (W-alloys for
round 800 ◦ C are expected
fusion)—see Annex 3.
Vast experience on its use. Very high
Moderator with structural thermal stability. Since it is a
Still used as moderator only in
Graphite functions as well in (V)HTR moderator, its use is limited to
the core of UK AGR
concepts thermal spectrum reactors—see
Annex 3.
Composites and other ceramics have
been long studied, but are still far
Cladding and core
Ceramic materials None (but SiCf /SiC from being fully qualified and
components in VHTR and
(SiCf /SiC, other) considered for ATF cladding) codified. Design rules need to
GFR
account for brittleness. Often
costly—see Annex 3.
These materials are investigated
because of their promising properties,
Prospective materials but even more because of the
None (but speculation of use Mainly cladding and coatings,
(HEA/CCA, Max possibility of applying modern
for ATF cladding) but not clearly identified
phases, . . . ) materials development techniques
based on combinatorial
fabrication—see Annex 3.

Depending on the system, other known materials may also enter demonstrator and
prototype designs, e.g., ferritic/martensitic (F/M) steels [79,88] and, for higher tempera-
tures, Ni-base alloys [89,90] or graphite [91]. However, in demonstrators and prototypes
these two metallic materials are mainly considered for out-of-core components [92], such as
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 11 of 48

steam generators. In contrast, graphite is considered for HTR cores, thanks to the significant
experience that exists already on its use [91]. There are reasons to consider F/M steels and
Ni-base alloys also for core components, particularly for systems cooled with liquid metals
or molten salts. But this will likely happen only in second phases of demonstrators or in
perspective commercial reactors, provided that these materials, or more likely improved
versions of them, are previously qualified for the relevant operating conditions and codi-
fied for design. For instance, F/M steels exhibit better thermal properties and only swell
above 200 dpa [79,88], which is crucial to attain high burnup, but they suffer from other
limitations that need to be relieved, e.g., low temperature embrittlement and unsatisfactory
creep resistance [79,88]. The latter calls for improvements, e.g., by introducing oxide dis-
persion strengthening (ODS) against creep [93], which has been long studied, but is not
yet sufficiently developed for component design and operation. As a perhaps shorter-term
alternative, pathways to improve the swelling resistance of austenitic steels do exist [94].
More details, including aspects of corrosion protection, are provided in Annex 3.
Systems that target operation around or beyond 800 ◦ C can only be conceived using,
as structural materials, either Ni-based superalloys [90], such as alloy 800 [95], or, more
appropriately, refractory metallic alloys [90,96,97]. Higher temperatures are the realm of
ceramic materials: in addition to graphite, the base core material for the VHTR, also SiC/SiC
composites [98–100], which are main target material for GFR core components, as well as
a plethora of other possibilities, depending on component and function [90]. However,
these materials are generally not fully defined: especially for refractory alloys, innumerable
possibilities and combinations exist [90]. They are therefore far from being qualified and
codified for design under the target conditions. In such a long term perspective, further
gateways to improved future reactor performance are opened considering other perspective
materials [101], e.g., ODS-Mo alloys [102], high entropy alloys (HEA) [103], better called
compositionally complex alloys (CCA) [104], or MAX phases [105]. The spectrum of
possibilities is very wide and it may be difficult to orientate in it.
Table 2 summarises the classes of structural materials for nuclear applications through
reactor generations.

2.3. Fuel Materials for Next Generation Nuclear Systems

Nuclear fuels and fuel elements for next generation reactors may differ widely, de-
pending on the reactor concept, in geometrical configuration, composition, cladding and
even physical state. Reactor fuels are based on compounds of one or more fissile and/or
fertile nuclides, mainly of U and Pu. They can be either refractory oxides, typically U
oxides and MOX, which are also used in current generation reactors [106–109], or other
ceramics, such as carbides [110], nitrides [111,112] and silicides [107,113,114], as well as
metallic alloys [115]. Other fuel concepts consider ceramic/ceramic or ceramic/metal
composites [116], as well as fluid molten salt fuels [117]. Solid fuel may appear in various
geometries: rods, plates or pellets. U oxides and MOX are the most industrially used
fuel materials [107]. MOX is indeed currently the reference fuel for most fast neutron
reactor demonstrators and prototypes in Europe, mainly because this class of fuels was
used in the European fast reactor programme that led to the construction of Phénix and
Superphénix [118]. The licensing of future fast reactors systems can thus take advantage of
the extensive knowledge base on MOX fuel. The fabrication method has a large influence
on the fuel performance, since it determines essential properties such as the porosity, the
size of the Pu-rich agglomerates and the impurity levels [108,109,118,119]. Furthermore,
reactor core designs have evolved, so different pellet geometries are considered, e.g., high-
density pellets with an annulus to regulate centre-line temperatures or low-density full
pellets [108,118]. Finally, reactor cores also differ because of the differing coolants and
may be operated at various temperatures and power ratings [120], thus they necessitate
further specific investigations. ADS, in addition, bring distinct issues that may impact
fuel performance, for example the thermal stresses induced by frequent proton beam
trips [121,122].
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 12 of 48

The sustainability of the fuel cycle can be significantly increased by Pu multi-recycling.

This will, however, affect the Pu concentration and its isotopic vector in the fuel and lead
to higher Am contents (from 241 Pu), which will increase the radioprotection requirements
during fuel fabrication [123].
Spent fuel long-term toxicity can be greatly reduced by adopting advanced nuclear
fuel cycles that foresee the extraction of minor actinides (MA), namely Am, Np and Cm,
later introducing them in fresh fuel for their transmutation in fast reactors [28]. This can
be achieved in homogeneous mode, by diluting a low content (a few % of heavy atoms)
of MA in conventional fast-reactor fuel, exploiting the structural similarity of the various
actinide oxides and their reciprocal solubility [28]. This has minimal impact on reactor
safety parameters and facilitates qualification [28,124], but implies that all fuel elements
will contain some MA. Heavy shielding and remote handling will therefore be necessary
for fuel fabrication and assembly production, because MA exhibit high neutron emission,
thermal power and toxicity. In another concept, the heterogeneous mode, MAs are located
only in specific assemblies that are placed at the periphery of the core of the reactor, which
minimizes the perturbation of the behaviour of the core [28,124]. In this case, the number
of MA bearing assemblies remains limited and these may be manufactured in dedicated
plants. In both cases, however, a large R&D effort is required to ensure MA-bearing
fuel qualification.
In the longer term, the adoption of mixed U and Pu carbides and nitrides (denoted as
MX = MC and MN) will enable core performance optimisation [109]. These fuels moderate
less, thus leading to harder neutron spectra, with shorter doubling times (time to produce
twice as much fuel as consumed) [125]. They have similar melting point as MOX, but
higher thermal conductivity. This enables operation with a larger margin to melting (safety
margin) or with a higher linear power (economic gain) compared to oxide fuel [110,112].
However, achieving high purities in these fuels poses some challenges in the fabrication
process [112]. The volatility of actinide carbides and nitrides at temperatures below the
melting point, in addition, may complicate Pu multi recycling, if it was proven that the
built-in Am component is actually more volatile than the U and Pu constituents [126,127].
HTRs also use fissile element oxides, but in the TRISO form [128]. TRISO stands for
TRi-structural ISOtropic particle fuel. The concept is based on the idea that a silicon carbide
layer acts as a sort of miniaturised pressure vessel to contain the fission products. The
TRISO particle is made of a fuel core that is currently composed of U oxy-carbide (UCO, a
mix of U oxides and U carbides); in the future it may contain U nitrides, instead [129]. The
fuel core is enrobed in a porous carbon buffer layer, a first pyrolytic carbon layer, a SiC layer,
and a second pyrolytic carbon layer, which altogether act as very effective barriers against
fission product release. TRISO particles have a diameter of less than 1 mm and are very
robust, being designed to resist neutron irradiation, corrosion, oxidation and especially
high temperatures. In conventional TRISO compacts the particles are encased in a graphite
matrix, which in future systems may be replaced by silicon carbide. The whole system is
conceived to avoid the possibility of fuel melt in the reactor under any circumstance.
Finally, in molten salt reactors (MSR) the fuel can be dissolved in the coolant salt, so
that fuel and coolant are one single medium. Molten halides (typically fluorides, but also
chlorides) are used as carriers of the fissile (U, Pu) or fertile (U or Th) elements [117,130,131].
The fuel synthesis route has thus very little in common with the established solid fuel
pellets fabrication. Challenges lay in the optimization of the composition for what concerns
neutronics and clean-up conditions. The in-reactor behaviour is also very characteristic of
this type of fuel, for example in the following aspects: (i) radiation effects are less important,
(ii) thermal transfer depends on fluid dynamics and fluid thermal properties (heat capacity,
thermal conductivity, density, viscosity and surface tension), and (iii) the solubility of
the fission products in the fuel plays a major role for reactor safety. While many fission
products are soluble in the fuel, noble gases and metals are not and need to be extracted
during operation. This on-line separation of the fission products, which is needed to allow
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 13 of 48

continuous operation, is a current topic of research. The impact of long-term corrosion

towards structural materials also deserves attention.
As a mirror of Table 2, Table 3 lists the different types of fuels and indicated in which
systems they are used, including use in current generation reactor, if any.

Table 3. Summary of classes of fuels through reactor generations. MOX = mixed U-Pu oxide fuel,
MA = minor actinides, MX = carbides, nitrides, silicides, . . . , TRISO = TRi-structural ISOtropic
particle fuel, (V)HTR = very high temperature reactor, GFR = gas-cooled fast reactor, MSR = molten
salt reactor.

Type of Fuel Use in GenII/III Use in GenIV Notes

Vast experience on their use [107], but
Mainly liquid metal (or
modifications needed for GenIV (geometry,
supercritical water) cooled
UO2 /MOX pellets All reactors architecture, microstructure, . . . )
reactors, certainly in prototypes,
[108,109,118,119]. Qualification needed for
including GFR prototype
different coolants.
Homogeneous vs. heterogeneous modes
MA-bearing oxide
None Prospectively in all fast reactors studied almost exclusively for liquid metal
fuel
(sodium) cooled reactors [28,124].
Long term use (with or without Fabrication not trivial [112]. Potential issues in
MX None MA) in all fast reactors for higher connection with Pu multirecycling [126,127].
efficiency and safety margins Qualification open.
None (but used in formerly
TRISO concept (V)HTR, GFR Inherently accident tolerant fuel (see text)
built HTRs)
None (but used in early
Liquid (molten salt) Totally different type of fuel. Offers possibility
prototypes and MSR
fuel of online processing [117,130,131].
experimental reactors)

2.4. General Materials-Related Issues for Improved Circularity and Economy of Any Type
and Generation of Reactors
The materials solutions adopted for light water SMRs do not need to differ signifi-
cantly from those adopted for standard LWRs. Likewise, the materials of choice for SMRs of
GenIV technology, or AMRs, can be in principle the same as those for larger scale reactors.
However, this one-to-one translation of materials solutions through reactor scales, which
is certainly useful for faster licensing of prototypes and first-of-a-kind reactors, may not
necessarily be the best choice in general terms. For instance, Ti alloys may be an option
for the vessel and perhaps the internals of light water SMRs [132], because they offer
reasonably good mechanical properties (no ductile-brittle transition temperature) and cor-
rosion resistance (no need for anticorrosion cladding in the vessel), interestingly combined
with lower activation (remote handling activation level reached after 30–35 years) and
lower weight (about 1.5 times less) than steels [132]. The latter two features enable easier
recycling and facilitate transport of pre-fabricated reactor parts, respectively. There are,
however, downsides: little experience with Ti-alloy use in nuclear environments (Ti is a
hydride-former and so prone to delayed cracking) and price (up to one order of magnitude
higher than steels). Ti is also penalised by being 10 times scarcer on earth than Fe: even
though it belongs to the top 10 most abundant elements in the earth’s crust [133], it has
been recently added to the list of critical raw materials of the EU [134]. However, in the
case of small size reactors the advantages that Ti alloys may bring in terms of transport,
handling and recycling might compensate in the long term for its shortcomings. Thus,
moving to a different, and so far unexploited, type of alloy, with overall not astonishingly
better mechanical or corrosion resistance properties, but with better properties from a
circularity perspective, may eventually provide increased sustainability as a balance to
higher costs. These are thus variables that acquire ever higher importance and need to be
included in the equation for the selection of nuclear materials for reactors of any technology
readiness level, including established technologies.
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 14 of 48

From a circularity perspective, GenII/III reactor LTO is not only an important afford-
able contributor to progressive electricity decarbonisation [6], but also a move towards
better use of materials resources and thus waste reduction. For this reason, GenIII+ new
reactor builds and future GenIV systems alike need to be designed for as long a lifetime as
possible (generally 60 years are targeted), in both cases calling for suitable design criteria
in terms of materials performance, although of course the task is made easier by previous
component operation experience. In this framework, any materials science-driven technol-
ogy that is able to increase the lifetime of components for any reactor generation is part
of the overall move towards improved circularity and increased sustainability, with the
non-negligible side effect of significant economic benefits.
Both LTO of operating reactors and extended lifetime cycle of future ones demand the
ability of guaranteeing the integrity of all parts of the plant for the required operation time,
by timely repairing or replacing any repairable or replaceable piece and by monitoring
the overall health of materials and components, which also has crucial safety implications.
Traditionally, this has been done through planned inspections and subsequent testing of key
component materials. The surveillance programme of RPV steels, with pre-located capsules
containing specimens to be periodically extracted for mechanical testing is the earliest and
best example of this practice [135]. The increasing use of non-destructive examination
(NDE) techniques for monitoring also RPVs represents a crucial move towards continuous
monitoring [136,137], valuably complementing and, eventually, partly replacing planned
inspections and destructive testing. Modern approaches of this type are based on the
application of optimised multi-parameter methodologies for the in situ characterization of
degradation in materials and components through sensors, thereby capturing the material
properties (“material DNA”) right from the start of its development, including control of
the manufacturing procedure, until its end of operation [138–141]. Their interpretation
more and more often requires the help of artificial intelligence for pattern recognition [142].
This approach contributes crucially to a thorough plant lifecycle assessment and resonates
and connects with the digitalization trend in the nuclear (and not only) industry, which also
involves the development of digital twins for the key plant components [143]. These are
virtual copies that, by combining in situ data collection with either physical or data-driven
computer simulation techniques and models (see Section 3.2), allow the behaviour of the
component in operation, or under off-normal conditions, to be anticipated, thereby opti-
mizing its functioning, while enabling timely interventions and, if needed, replacements,
whenever required [144].
Importantly, the development of robust technologies that are capable of determining in-
service material performance, not only by monitoring, but also through modelling, depends
on both model accuracy and data reliability. Hence, there is a need for collecting reliable
experimental key data, which need to be captured in a consistent manner under realistic
operation conditions, or else to provide physical information on materials behaviour, to be
used to feed suitable models. In the case of operating reactors, there is clearly an interest,
in this context, to harvest service-aged material to enhance the knowledge base. In the case
of future reactors such data collection process needs to be foreseen and designed according
to modern conceptions. The corresponding models can be both physical and based on
data-driven approaches, using artificial intelligence (see Section 3.2). In both cases and
especially in the latter, the inherent consistency and the appropriate collection, storage and
management of data are crucial. Non-destructive methods for materials characterization
of components during operation, or in experimental operando conditions, through sensors,
can be helpful to provide also such key data, provided that they can be translated into
quantities that the models can handle.
The repair, replacement and fabrication of component parts, especially when these are
not classical spare parts and/or possess complex geometries, may benefit from modern
manufacturing techniques, such as 3D printing [145,146] and hot isostatic pressing (HIP),
which are also used in combination [147]. Additive manufacturing (AM, 3D printing)
is suitable for components of complex geometry, but limited size, for which suppliers
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 15 of 48

may be difficult to find. HIP allows shape and material homogeneity and composition to
be controlled and is especially suitable for heavy components (elbow pipes, pipes with
integrated nozzles . . . ). Both are extremely powerful and open the way to revolutionary
ways of not only replacing, but also fabricating parts and components, or even a complete
reactor [148]. In this way, the supply chain of repaired or new components according to
specifications would be significantly improved or even by-passed. However, the safety
constraints that apply to nuclear installations require that suitable qualification paths and
standards are developed, because a 3D-printed material, although chemically identical to
the reference one, will generally have significantly different microstructural features and
thus different macroscopic properties [146].
NDE and advanced manufacturing, when applied to the concept of SMRs, open the
way to envisaging largely automatised, robotic, intelligent systems that, in addition to
being small, compact, factory-fabricated and transportable, are also able to self-monitor the
health of their components and replace them autonomously on-the-fly. While still largely
speculative, this scenario is not totally science-fictional. These concepts remain valid for
current and future generation reactors alike.

3. Nuclear Materials Science and Engineering Approaches: Towards a Paradigm Shift

The ability to foresee as reliably as possible the lifetime of materials and components
is clearly of high importance for their optimal use from the point of view of economics
and sustainability, as well as for the purpose of licensing reactors of any technology.
This requires predicting the moment when, due to the action of degrading agents and
processes, the material used to manufacture the component is likely not to be any more
suitable for correct operation, or becomes unsuitable to face off-normal conditions in case
of an accident. For this we need to know how the properties of the material change after
exposure to operational conditions, starting from known initial properties that depend both
on chemical nature and microstructure and/or architecture; the latter being determined by
the manufacturing process. We also need to know how a component made with a material
with those properties will function under given conditions. This knowledge enables the
design lifetime to be defined and the maintenance and replacement to be planned, as well
as the eventual re-use or recycling to be guided, with all the related safety, economic and
sustainability consequences. This knowledge also enables demonstration of the safety and
functionality of the component in the process of licensing, or in connection with LTO [149].
In order to obtain this knowledge, materials scientists and engineers dispose of a
number of methodologies and approaches that have traditionally enabled materials to
be tested and characterised by measuring their properties with appropriate techniques
(often, but not always, standardised) under various conditions: as-fabricated, exposed to
different degrading agents and during operation, as well as at the end of its life. Testing and
characterization techniques may be destructive or not and generally require appropriately
prepared specimens. The data obtained in this way are then transferred to models that
enable their rationalization and interpretation, allowing interpolations and possibly also
extrapolations. It is mainly the models, which can be empirical, theoretical or a mixture of
them (e.g., data-driven models), that guide component design, maintenance and replace-
ment plan, minimizing costs while maximizing safety and efficiency, possibly taking into
account also all aspects related the optimization of their whole lifecycle. Importantly, these
approaches and methodologies are applicable also beyond the classes of materials that are
the focus of the present paper, e.g., they are applicable to concrete and polymers, as well as
to functional materials, that are also of importance for nuclear power plants.
The above-described way of proceeding, in which the observation of the materials
performance under a variety of conditions, unavoidably limited to relatively few data, was
the main ingredient in their qualification and licensing, corresponds to the “observe and
qualify” paradigm, where models are used a posteriori to guide actions. This practice is still
used today and will continue to be used, but it must progressively undergo a shift to the
“design and control” paradigm. The latter is based on the key postuilate that good models
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 16 of 48

based on physical understanding of processes should also be able to provide paths towards
improved materials. These are materials that, because of their inherent properties and the
selected manufacturing procedure with respect to a known reference, enable the component
design lifetime to be increased, the intervention for maintenance and replacement to be
minimised and the possibility of re-use or recycling maximised, while possibly using non-
critical chemical elements. Modern materials science approaches, therefore, pursue a new
“design and control” paradigm, which inverts the process by asking first the question of
how materials should be selected, improved and manufactured, i.e., designed, in order
to optimally fulfil the requirements imposed by the targeted operating conditions, i.e., by
controlling their performance. This change of paradigm, applicable to all classes of nuclear
materials, including those not addressed here, is illustrated in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Schematic illustration of the “Observe and Qualify” and “Design and Control” paradigms.
The colours help to show that in the latter case the point of view is inverted: material solutions are
designed based on operational and sustainability requirements.

The related materials science and engineering practices remain the same in both cases,
namely, in logical order: development, qualification and monitoring, with the common
denominator of data management and modelling. In what follows, however, qualification is
addressed first, because in the traditional “observe and qualify” paradigm nuclear materials
have been first identified based on previous experience and then qualified for use in the
relevant environment and monitored in it, subsequently deriving suitable models, rather
than developed ad hoc. Development is the last practice to be analysed, being the crucial
one towards “design and control”. Data management and modelling are mixed. Moves
towards the new paradigm are proposed and discussed throughout.

3.1. Materials and Components’ Qualification

Materials and components’ qualification means “generation and maintenance of ev-
idence to ensure that they will operate on demand, under specified service conditions,
by meeting system performance and safety requirements”. Crucially, the qualification is
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 17 of 48

made before the material is used and the component installed, to enable the design of the
component itself with sufficient a priori guarantee that it will respect performance and
safety requirements. Qualification is thus the pre-requisite for the establishment of rules for
the design of components, which are collected in design or performance codes [150–154],
according to the best available engineering practices and scientific knowledge. The related
research is defined as pre-normative, with reference to the goal of establishing norms and
standards. This qualification needs to be completed for each material of interest for applica-
tions or, in cases that are more and more frequently encountered, for whole components or
assemblies. For instance, fuel elements need to be qualified in their entirety for the target
environment and conditions and require, for design and safety purpose, the development of
fuel performance codes [152–154]. These enable the simulation of the behaviour of the fuel
element in the reactor from the thermal and mechanical point of view, as well as its evolu-
tion overtime, as functions of irradiation and thermal parameters in any condition: normal,
incidental and accidental. The description of the very complex relationships between these
parameters and the evolution in time requires appropriate models. It is considered that
better models can be produced by shifting from currently used fully empirical correlations
to partly or totally physical/data-driven models (see Section 3.2). In addition, modern
techniques of component fabrication (AM, HIP) inherently require the qualification of the
whole component, because the properties of the material become linked to the method and
the process used for its fabrication. This requirement involves the development of suitable
standards, that currently only partly exist, especially in the case of next generation reactors
and relevant materials [155].
Design codes include guides for the introduction of a new material in them, where
a “new material” is not always really “new”: it can also be a known one that was never
used before for a given application and thus needs qualification for the conditions to which
it will be subject, i.e., the conditions to which it is going to be subjected are new, rather
than the material. Alternatively, the “new material” may be a one that was already used,
but was fabricated according to different standards or adopting different processes, as is
the case of advanced manufacturing. These guides to introduce new materials in codes
are sorts of checklists of the type of information and properties that need to be provided
through qualification and pre-normative research, together with indications about how to
execute the relevant measurements and tests, referring to standards that are developed for
this purpose by dedicated organizations. These give prescriptions on how to conduct tests
and often also on how to analyse data, to assure that the measured material properties are
independent of who performs the test and where. In some cases, however, for operation
in environmental conditions and parameter ranges that concern specific new systems, the
design codes may fall short and require extensions. For instance the RCC-MRx design
code [151], which was developed in France to support specifically the SFR technology, has
been recognized as the most appropriate design code for all European GenIV prototypes. It
covers the design and construction of components for reactors that operate at high tem-
perature, including auxiliaries, mechanisms for examination and handling and irradiation
devices. It also includes specifications on manufacturing. However, it does not advise
on rules for environmental effects, with the exception of thinning by corrosion. It does
not cover high temperature ranges for GFR and (V)HTR, either. Moreover, the reference
operational life for material property curves and design rules is 40 years, while the goal of
increased sustainability requires extension to 60.
Filling these gaps for a given material requires that dedicated experiments are per-
formed to collect comprehensive and reliable sets of relevant data. In the case of nuclear
core materials irradiation experiments need to be included, as well. Materials need to be
exposed to specific environments in suitable and often expensive infrastructures, such as
autoclaves and loops, or bespoke facilities for irradiation, if possible up to the time or dose
expected in service, else getting data that can be possibly extrapolated. For fast reactor
systems this should ideally happen in facilities with the correct neutron spectrum. In their
absence—as is currently the case in Europe—Materials Testing Reactors (MTRs) are used.
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 18 of 48

These are, however, characterized by a predominantly thermal neutron spectrum, which

limits safe extrapolation to different spectra and higher doses. This problem, which hinders
full qualification for GenIV reactor materials, is even more burning for fusion, because the
neutron spectrum is in that case significantly different, with a 14 MeV peak that has signifi-
cant consequences, especially in terms of transmutation. It becomes therefore necessary
that a bespoke facility should be built to irradiate under fusion-relevant conditions, which
is the purpose of the IFMIF-DONES project [156].
The level of degradation after or during exposure needs to be assessed in terms of
changes of properties of engineering interest, by testing and examining these materials,
using a series of suitable testing methods. In order to cover most conditions through testing,
particularly those with safety implications, the qualification process may currently last
for decades. The return of experience from previous use, when applicable, does reduce
the qualification time. However, in several cases this process is system-specific, thus the
return of experience may not be fully of relevance. Moreover, new and bespoke standard
procedures may need to be developed to execute the exposure, the characterization and the
tests in new environments. Furthermore, the qualification of a new material, or material
combination, in its baseline version is not sufficient: efficient procedures for joining pieces
made of that material need to be developed and equally tested and qualified (One of the
important advantages of fabricating components using advanced manufacturing methods
is that welds and joints can be avoided, as the component is given a shape while the
material itself is produced. However, this advantage should not be offset by internal
stresses and porosity). Finally, both new materials solutions and joining procedures are
typically developed in the laboratory, but, crucially, before the solution can be actually
adopted in commercial plants, there needs to be an industrial production upscale, which
is not always obvious. In particular, upscaling may imply de facto changing some of the
features of the materials solution that was developed in the laboratory, potentially requiring
further qualification. Eventually, the data that are gathered for each code-candidate material
through this long and expensive procedure need to be rationally translated into robust
design rules for components, or laws and models for the assessment of fuel performance.
The qualification process would greatly benefit from the development of accelerated
exposure and testing procedures, which would reduce the associated time and costs, with
significant impact on innovation and thus economics. Identifying them, however, is not
simple, because their relevance to real operating conditions needs to be proven. Advanced
modelling (Section 3.2) is crucial for accelerated qualification, as it provides the required
links between properties and should enable the effects of degradation processes to be more
precisely assessed, based on physical insight. Likewise, monitoring (Section 3.3), such as
in the case of RPV surveillance [135], is crucial to ensure the integrity and functionality
of materials and components while in operation, even in case of partial failure of the
qualification procedure, as well as to provide an a posteriori feedback to the design rules.
Yet, monitoring is possible only when the reactor fleet or at least a prototype/first-of-a-kind
has been deployed. Thus monitoring does not generally support materials and component
qualification, although it does compensate for the fact that not all possible combinations of
conditions could be explored a priori.
With a view to making qualification more efficient and affordable, and possibly ac-
celerate it, the concept of “test-beds”, supported in Europe for example in the case of
nanomaterials [157], should be pursued and adapted to the case of nuclear materials or,
more generally, materials operating under harsh conditions. Test-beds are integrated plat-
forms for conducting thorough and replicable tests on (new) materials, according to an
established protocol that is specific for the target application. These platforms may or not
be physically in the same place, i.e., they can also be the result of properly structuring
coordinated characterization using different techniques by different specialised laboratories.
The definition provided by the EU commission is: “entities that offer access to physical
facilities, capabilities and services required for the development, testing and upscaling of
advanced materials in industrial environments” [157,158]. The key is that they should offer
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 19 of 48

any type of customer the possibility to obtain an exhaustive and integrated characterization,
under or after suitably representative exposure conditions, of materials belonging to the
classes of interest for the target applications. Single-entry integrated platforms of this
type, if sufficiently flexible, can help making the qualification steps of baseline and joined
materials shorter and more affordable, including support to industrial upscaling.

3.2. Advanced Modelling and Characterisation

The previous section makes it clear that exposing materials to real conditions costs
time and money and requires infrastructures. Moreover, in practice, those that can be
explored correspond to simulations or approximations of real conditions and data can
never cover all ranges. Exposure times or doses comparable with the lifetime of the reactor
are only rarely accessible, or they may be accessible at higher dose rates using MTRs, as
is customarily done to evaluate RPV steel embrittlement [76,159,160]. The combination of
effects and their synergy is also difficult to simulate in a laboratory. Finally, until the system
is operated, no feedback can be obtained through materials health monitoring (Section 3.3).
Extrapolation of data is therefore unavoidable, but purely empirical extrapolations have
limited reliability. Relying only on the observation of the materials performance under a
variety of conditions, unavoidably limited to relatively few data, as main ingredient in their
qualification and licensing corresponds to the “observe and qualify” paradigm. Shifting to
the “design and control” paradigm requires the help of advanced models. These can be of
two complementary types, as described in what follows.
Advanced physical modelling through numerical simulation and modern materials
examination methods are at the heart of the “design and control” paradigm. This paradigm
is indeed made possible thanks to the vast increase that computational power experienced
over the last decades, combined with ever greater power of techniques for microstructural
and micromechanical characterization of materials, which enable in-depth observation and
testing at all scales [161–163]. This approach is expected to become increasingly robust,
initially only underpinning, then gradually improving the traditional empirical approaches
that are still used, e.g., in fuel performance codes [152–154] or in dose-damage correlations
for LWR vessels [76]. The “design and control” approach bears the promise to significantly
enhance our predictive capability, by enabling the physical description of the evolution in
time of both the microstructure and the microchemistry of materials exposed to irradiation
and/or high temperature and/or coolants. The output of these models acts then as input
to meso- and macroscopic length scale models, in a multiscale modelling framework and
spirit, thereby enabling prediction of the changes experienced by the materials properties
in operation. Since the modelling tools are generally computationally costly to run and
often use parallelised software, the use of high-performance computing (HPC) can be a
crucial asset; although in reality the bottleneck to physics-based model development is not
only computing power, but mainly the correct identification and parameterization of all
important physical mechanisms [163,164]. Eventually, correlations of fast application such
as those used for RPV steels or performance codes such as those used for fuel should be
able to make use of the background information that these models provide, using better
parameters and models and including more correct underlying mechanisms, possibly
under a single platform [165,166].
Physical models require suitable data for calibration and validation, from so-called
modelling-orientated experiments. In these, materials are exposed to external factors, as for
qualification purposes, but the objective here is to better understand mechanisms, by sepa-
rating variables and effects, rather than to measure engineering properties [162,163,167].
In experiments of this type, key variables, such as temperature and irradiation dose or
dose rate, are accurately controlled and varied over sufficiently wide ranges. For this,
specific exposure facilities are needed, especially for irradiation, and the use of charged
particles (ions, protons, electrons, . . . ) can be a valuable and affordable tool (some caveats
are discussed in Section 3.4) [168–170]. Next, microstructure and microchemistry char-
acterization are essential parts of modelling-orientated experiments. The combined use
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 20 of 48

of various modern characterization techniques (a list of which will never be sufficiently

exhaustive) is crucial, because each of them provides complementary pieces of informa-
tion, which are all indispensable in order to actually take advantage of the added value
of modelling-orientated experiments [162,163,167]. Suitable mechanical characterization
is equally important, including micromechanical experiments from specimens at single
grain scale (nanoindentation, micro-pillars, . . . ), often the only possibility in the case of
specimens irradiated with charged particles, due to the latter limited penetration [171].
Moreover, mechanical tests addressing uni- vs. multi-axial load, cyclic load, relaxation, load
sequence, non-proportional loading, etc., in correlation with the observed microstructure,
are of interest, depending on material type and purposes and models to be developed.
These experiments are invariably delicate to perform and may be longer than, and almost
as costly as, those performed for qualification. They provide, however, a higher level of
fundamental physical understanding, as opposed to the collection of engineering data for
the production of correlations that is typical of traditional qualification procedures. They
thus clearly contribute crucially to the paradigm shift towards “design and control”.
The main current limitation of physical computational models is that they still have
difficulties to take into account, at all scales, the effects of the complexity of materials
chemistry and related mechanisms of degradation, even more when the interaction with
the environment (e.g coolants) has to be accounted for. This difficulty is likely to require
significant time and effort to be overcome. An alternative path has therefore recently
started to be intensively pursued, which consists in using modern digital techniques such
as artificial intelligence (AI)—also used for the analysis of data obtained from materials
health monitoring (Section 3.3)—to extract relevant materials features from large amounts
of data: so-called (big) data-driven modelling [172,173]. These techniques make the best
of the data that can be made available, by identifying complex correlations between, on
the one side, the parameters that define the materials or the components (e.g., composition
and fabrication features), as well as the exposure conditions (e.g., temperature, exposure
time, radiation dose and dose-rate, . . . ), and, on the other, the final properties of interest.
This is achieved by providing a large amount of examples, on which the method is trained.
The accuracy is then tested by contrasting the outcome of the AI scheme with data that
were not used for the training. These sophisticated algorithms turn out to be often very
powerful. The specific example in the nuclear materials field where this approach is being
applied with some degree of success concerns correlations for RPV steel embrittlement
versus neutron fluence and other variables [174–176].
One of the main problems with data-driven modelling procedures is that they are too
often blind: the AI produces in most cases a sort of “black box” transfer function between
input and output, a priori devoid of any physics (even though sometimes this procedure
manages to improve also our physical understanding [174,175]). The more data are avail-
able, the higher are the chances that the procedure provides probative results, although it
remains dangerous and unwarranted to rely on extrapolations [176]. In the case of RPV
steels, a large amount of data is available from surveillance and MTR experiments, thus
this approach is especially promising [174–176]. However, this situation is not necessarily
common in the nuclear materials field. In general, the number of data that are available
for pre-normative research and for modelling, from exposure to a variety of environments
and irradiation conditions, is limited, due to the high cost and relative scarcity of relevant
irradiation experiments. Thus, a completely blind approach based on “big data” analysis
techniques is of hardly any use in the case of nuclear materials, for which data are in fact
generally rather “scarce” than “big”. AI methods that are able to find logic in scarce sets
of data do exist (few shot learning) [177]. They are based on the multifidelity concept, i.e.,
whenever high fidelity data are missing, pseudo-examples based on lower fidelity data are
used as complement, with appropriate weight. Their application relies on the availability
of various and different ways to obtain data and reaches its highest efficiency when input
is received from both experimental high quality data and data of different fidelity level,
e.g., coming from physical models. It is also believed, and has been shown in some cases,
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 21 of 48

that the inclusion of microstructural data from advanced characterisation in the set of input
variables greatly improves the predictive capabilities of AI algorithms, because of the added
physical content that this involves [178]. Therefore, in the field of nuclear materials and
components, the marriage between data-driven and physical modelling (hybrid models),
combined with advanced microstructural examination, is likely to be the most promising
path to follow. Other methods to reduce the “black box” effect inherent to AI, for a different
application, are discussed in the next section.

3.3. Materials and Component Health Monitoring

Until recently, non-destructive testing and evaluation (NDT&E) were mainly used to
detect defects in components and products as part of quality assurance procedures [179,180].
Thus, NDT&E have been often designed, for many applications, as an afterthought, instead
of being an integral part of their design and manufacture. As an example, an early overview
on the NDT&E versus linear dimensions of microstructure and defects relevant for material
strength and toughness is given in [181].
Today, NDT&E do more than purely detecting and locating defects in components:
they address the characterization of material properties and their progress and can therefore
contribute to all stages of the product life cycle, from the development of materials and
products, to cover their maintenance, repair, and finally recycling [182,183]. Last but not
least, the development of sensors that are able to capture microstructural patterns emerging
from production processes [184] and to combine them in the form of individual finger-
prints is also part of NDT&E: this corresponds to a sort of “product DNA” that can be
deposited in “digital product files”.
NDT&E methods for materials health monitoring have the advantage of being able
to characterise the progressive change of the material properties of the same specimen in
operando conditions. They can also be applied to actual components, again also in operando
conditions. The key for their application is that macroscopic physical properties and mi-
croscopic effects are correlated based on physical principles [185]. Depending on their
physical principles and applied sensors, NDT&E methods can provide local or volumetric
information about the material or component condition [185,186]. Moreover, many of them
can be used on activated materials (under harsh environment) and in situ [187,188]. How-
ever, tests performed non-destructively do not generally determine directly the material
properties as they are measured in destructive tests. To quantify the material properties
non-destructively, measured parameters/features must be first correlated with the material
properties of interest, which are customarily measured destructively [185,189].
Smart NDT&E systems should enable the collection of, and access to, essential com-
prehensive data of materials/products along their entire lifetime at different scales, start-
ing with their development (in the lab) and ending with their end-of-life over produc-
tion and operation. Moreover, innovative NDT&E methods that include cognitive, auto-
adaptive sensor technologies may enable the understanding of the physical mechanisms
that determine the response of the material under given conditions of manufacturing or
operation [190].
Intelligent NDT&E devices may collect experimental reliable key data during lab-
oratory materials characterization, until industrial inspection of in-service components,
and predict the progress of material properties with high accuracy. For this to happen,
each change (intended or not) of the material properties of a product along its lifetime
must be detected and stored in a sort of product memory. To allow an as comprehensive
material characterisation as possible, multi-parameter/multi-NDE methods approaches
are needed. They enable materials characterisation similarly to having different human-
senses [190–192]. A current limitation of the multi-method approaches is the unavailability
of uniform data formats for data obtained by different NDE techniques. An additional
limitation is caused by the risk of obtaining big datasets that contain many irrelevant data.
AI algorithms of the same type as those used for data-driven modelling (Section 3.2) are
thus equally helpful here for data collection and analysis to build models based on collected
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 22 of 48

data and make predictions or take decisions [193], provided that the training data are
appropriately treated.
The application field of AI can be roughly divided into two groups, supervised and
unsupervised learning, to which the semi-supervised group may be added [194,195]. They
can be applied to different stages in the NDT&E: data collection first, than data analysis
or prediction of the targeted material property. In supervised learning, so-called targets
(the variables to be predicted) are available in addition to the features (the independent
variables). The model aims to predict the targets based on the features, in full analogy
with the data-driven modelling of Section 3.2. This is by far the most frequent type of
application in materials science. The simplest example of supervised learning is multiple
linear regression analysis (y = m1 x1 + m2 x2 + . . . + mn xn + b) [192], where the features
represent the independent variables (x1 , x2 , . . . ) and the target (y) represents the dependent
variable. AI supervised learning models generally necessitate large databases for their
training and for their validation. In the case of NDT&E there is no issue of scarce data, as in
nuclear materials data-driven modelling (see previous section), but rather of guaranteeing
the relevance of the training data, removing signals from faulty sensors or spurious signals.
In unsupervised learning the goal is to draw conclusions about the input data, rather than
predicting the corresponding output variables. This approach searches for patterns in
data that have not been detected before. For instance, it may identify ways of grouping
unlabelled data, thereby providing a data classification. The algorithm thus identifies trends
of potential use and interest to rationalise the dataset, so available data can be presented in
a novel way. Thus structures in the data are recognised and the aim is not to predict the
target property, but to present the training data in a more comprehensible way (clusters) for
humans or subsequent supervised learning algorithms [190]. Curing the training dataset
to avoid implausible data, like errors, outliers or missing data is customary in all cases,
also in supervised learning, i.e., the collected data always need to be pre-processed [195],
the volume of data, the uncertainties associated with each data value, as well as their
heterogeneity, all being important aspects of data pre-processing. What unsupervised
algorithms do is to help in the pre-processing, by reducing the number of dimensions of a
multidimensional feature space, through rotation and subsequent projection onto so-called
principal axes, thereby removing redundancies and irrelevant data, without significant
loss of information [195]. By applying this approach, future NDE systems will be enabled
to collect only relevant materials data. If, after the cataloguing, the experimental data
acquired are not enough for performing reliable trainings, then the quantity of data can
be increased artificially, without the need for large amounts of specimens, thanks to the
prior clustering. Thus, specific data augmentation techniques based on unsupervised
algorithms can be designed in order to obtain a sufficiently large, and optimised, database.
An example of unsupervised learning is principal component analysis [192,195]. High-
dimensional and correlated NDE datasets have to be analysed in terms of outliers and
missing data and mapped in a reduced, decorrelated and thus interpretable feature space,
using unsupervised machine learning algorithms. This ensures the ability of the model to
be developed to deal with possible failures, inaccuracies and errors (i.e., outliers, missing
data), thereby reducing the “black box” component.
The combination of supervised and unsupervised ML-algorithms can be used to ex-
tract relevant features from NDT&E and so build models for predicting material properties,
much in the same way as in data-driven modelling (Section 3.2), although using approaches
that are specific for this type of analysis. Once the data pre-screening is performed, a predic-
tion/modelling of the material properties of test-specimens can be carried out. NDE data, in
combination with the associated reference data and the use of supervised machine learning
algorithms (e.g., linear and nonlinear regression models), are then used for explainable
robust model building, from which reliable non-destructive predictions of the targeted
material properties can be determined.
AI algorithms embedded in NDT sensors will thus enable the collected data to be
pre-processed and the key relevant data to be selected. AI-based multi-parameter NDT&E
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 23 of 48

systems (merging different NDE sensors and AI algorithms), which can predict individ-
ualised material properties, can be used as an added-value option in the framework of
materials development, product design, manufacture, predictive maintenance and trace-
ability of material properties for secondary raw materials. They can provide reliable
key experimental data collected non-destructively in all stages of the entire product life
cycle [196,197].

3.4. Development of Optimised or New Material Solutions

Appropriate system and component design may contribute to mitigate the harshness
of the conditions to which materials are subjected, thereby enabling sufficiently long lifetime
in operation. However, no design can fully compensate for inadequate materials properties,
if the reliability of the component and the availability of the system remain too low to
be economically viable. This is the case for most GenIV systems, for which currently no
readily available materials or material solutions enable the target operating conditions for
commercial power plants to be fully sustained (see Sections 1.1, 2.2, 2.3 and 3.1).
Materials with better initial properties and performance in terms of resistance to degra-
dation enable safer, more efficient and more economical design of installations. Advanced
manufacturing techniques and processes, such as AM and HIP, might also help increase
the performance of components and enable their repair or fast replacement. Both ways,
component or installation lifetime is increased and shutdowns become less frequent or
shorter, thereby improving the availability and the economy of the installations, as well as
their sustainability, because increased component lifetime leads to better use of resources
and minimised environmental impact. The push to find material solutions with improved
performance in operation is therefore strong and the equation to find the best materials
solutions should also include variables such as criticality of raw elements, component mon-
itorability (Section 3.3) and materials recyclability (or possibly re-use), as well as safe and
easy disposal when this becomes unavoidable. The forces that oppose the push towards
the development of new materials solutions originate, in the case of new systems, from
the need for designers to identify rapidly suitable materials that are already, or can be
readily, codified, so as to enable timely design. In the case of already deployed systems, the
“counter push” comes mainly from the (cost of the) industrial production transformation
that the new solution implies (industrial upscaling and supply chain). In both cases, the
need to be convincing with regulators for swift licensing is an issue.
New materials solutions may be: (i) existing materials that are expected to be suitable
for given conditions, or more suitable than previous ones, or simply cheaper, but were never
used before for those conditions; (ii) materials with purposefully or expectedly improved
properties and performance, thanks to, e.g., tuned composition or revised architecture;
(iii) materials of the same type as those already used, but produced or joined according
to different standards, processes or methods; (iv) combinations of the previous two cases,
or coupling of different known and new materials, to better mitigate degradation due to
specific agents (e.g., coatings against corrosion); (v) entirely new materials solutions that
were developed with targeted properties for a specific use. In practice, the last case, which
best corresponds to the “design and control” paradigm and appears at first sight as the
most appealing one, is by far the least frequent one.
Each time a new material solution is proposed for a nuclear reactor, a long and costly
process of full qualification and codification is required (Section 3.1). Thus, qualification
steps can currently be taken only for a reduced number of promising materials, which
have emerged from a selection based on a previous screening. This is currently doable
in practice only for very few candidates, generally selected based on existing knowledge.
The screening is performed essentially in the same way as the qualification of materials,
i.e., by exposure and testing (the “observe and qualify” paradigm), but here the goal is
not to fully define the design rules for licensing and construction: it is rather to give a first
assessment of the behaviour of the few candidates, so as to identify the most suitable one(s),
on which to focus attention. Thus typically a small set of properties of interest is selected to
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 24 of 48

be measured, after exposure to a reduced set of representative and, especially, affordable

conditions. However, even these small sets may correspond to significant work and cost,
particularly when neutron irradiation is involved. There remains a certain probability
that all materials in this small set (sometimes a set of only a couple of materials) have to
be discarded at some point, because of some inacceptable behaviour under conditions of
relevance for the target system. Clearly, this is a risky and inefficient way of proceeding,
which eventually may lead to using a non-optimal materials solution, simply because it
is the one for which, after several years of work, there are more or less sufficient data for
codification and therefore design of the component.
In order to explore the performance of materials under irradiation for screening
purposes, charged particles that would be of questionable use for qualification can be a
convenient method [168–170]. Charged particle irradiation is significantly cheaper and
variables such as temperature and dose are easier to vary and control (not so dose-rate,
though). This enables a wider spectrum of parameters to be more affordably explored as
compared to neutron irradiation, although at the price of only affecting a surface-close layer
of material. The latter limits the possibility of characterization to a few microstructural
examination techniques, which cannot be of bulk-type. Thus, mechanical properties cannot
be assessed using the same approaches as for neutron-irradiated materials. Moreover, con-
trary to bulk-techniques for mechanical testing, no good practices are fully established for
those applicable to charged-particle irradiated specimens, e.g., nanoindentation [171,198].
Finally, serious issues of transferability to neutrons exist, because charged particles are
injected at higher dose rate, have different energy spectrum, generally produce damage
gradients in a limited penetration thickness and often inject foreign species, including im-
purities [168,170,199–205]. Thus, theoretical and modelling work to ensure transferability,
and a clear definition of suitable protocols, though already started [206], is still needed
in order for charged particles to become fully usable screening tools. Meanwhile, costly
neutron irradiations remain necessary for screening, as well.
The lengthy qualification process and the costly screening of new material solutions,
combined with the hurdle of licensing, make the nuclear industry often overly conservative
and incremental, i.e., there must generally be very strong reasons before changing to a
different type of material solution. Changes of materials did happen in the past in the
case of GenII LWRs [54,207]. However, “not-too-different-solutions” from those already
adopted are generally preferred [54], because easier and less costly to adopt in practice,
especially in order to be convincing with regulatory bodies.
To make materials development more attractive, with all the benefits this can bring,
the screening procedures need to become less expensive, faster and more efficient, possibly
including from the start all the important variables in the searching tool to robustly identify
the best candidates that are later worth undergoing full (accelerated) qualification. This
corresponds to adopting a full “design and control” perspective. Relying on an efficient
and affordable screening procedure becomes even more important now that developing
new material solutions does not only concern better intrinsic engineering properties (e.g.,
resistance to operation at high temperature, to corrosion or to irradiation), but also lifecycle
improvement for increased sustainability (less use of critical elements, monitorability,
recyclability or re-use . . . ), i.e., the number of variables to be included in the process of
development and the selection of materials solutions is increasing. Finally, the involvement
of regulators for safety indications to be taken into account from the start of the development
process would be ideally beneficial.
Improving the efficiency of the screening procedures implies addressing mainly three
aspects: (i) apply suitable fast fabrication and post-fabrication treatment methods to pro-
duce an as large as reasonably possible number of batches of materials, with various
compositions and/or architectures and/or microstructures, among which the best candi-
dates need to be selected; (ii) identify experimental methods to accelerate exposure and
subsequent testing, by rapidly measuring representative quantities that are considered as
good indicators of the expected long term performance; and (iii) make use of advanced
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 25 of 48

characterization and digital techniques as guidance to the development of new materials,

by using a quantitative methodology that goes straight to the target, instead of proceeding
by trial-and-error, solely based on the (invaluable but fallible) experience or intuition of the
researchers involved. The keywords to make these three goals a reality are combinatorial
fabrication [208–210], high throughput characterization and calculation [210,211], smart
physics-based and data-driven modelling [178,212–215], including automated microstruc-
ture recognition [215–219].
High throughput experiments and calculations quickly explore the wide phase space
of the variables that characterise the materials to identify the regions of interest. Com-
binatorial fabrication corresponds to making sequences of samples of a certain type of
material, in which variables such as composition or architecture vary according to a large
number of combinations (for example, mixing different chemical elements in different
proportions). Key target properties are then systematically measured in these samples,
thereby obtaining a large amount of homogeneous data. High throughput is achieved if
the measurements are fast and easy to repeat, automatically and sequentially, in a large
number of samples, which should be small to optimise the process also in terms of use of
resources. The measured quantities and the way of measuring them (e.g., after suitable
exposure to specific conditions) in microsamples must be representative of the behaviour
of the material in operation. To complement the experiments, a large number of relevant
property calculations are performed using high fidelity physical methods, such as those
based on density functional theory (DFT), implemented in high performance computers
(HPC). Finally, AI, specifically machine learning (ML), techniques are applied to analyze the
collected data, to establish correlations between the fundamental variables that characterise
the materials (their “genes” or “DNA”) and the properties to be optimised. As in the case
of modelling (Section 3.2) and monitoring (Section 3.3), these digital techniques are used to
deduce complex deterministic laws that depend on multiple variables, based on examples
provided in the form of large amounts of data. As in the other cases, the quantity, quality,
homogeneity and representativeness of the data are crucial (Section 3.5). By collecting
data in an iterative fashion, these correlations are expected to enable the identification
of the subset of the most promising candidate materials for the target set of properties.
These should be looked at with more attention later, using more “traditional” qualification
approaches, also from a perspective of industrial upscaling. The test-beds suggested in
Section 3.1 are an ideal tool for these following steps.
Accelerated development through systematic screening is eventually best achieved
by the creation of suitable integrated platforms in which, with the help of robotic systems,
the above described methodology of combinatorial manufacturing and high-performance
characterization of materials, as well as AI/ML methods, are incorporated in an inte-
grated and automated way, thereby becoming autonomous materials discovery systems
(autonomous materials discovery), as put forward and explained in [218–220], and specifi-
cally for nuclear applications in [221]. Platforms of this type, called Material Acceleration
Platforms, MAPs [222] are being developed and applied with some degree of success in the
case of functional materials, such as for lithium batteries [211], also in Europe (BIG-MAP
project [223]), and for carbon nanotubes [224].
The challenge of applying these approaches beyond the existing examples to materials
for extreme conditions is daunting. Yet MAPs are preconised to revolutionise traditional
materials research and development in the next decade, also in the field of energy materi-
als [225]. The combination of nuclear-materials-dedicated MAPs and test-beds (Section 3.1),
therefore, can be a way to boost innovation, the need for which is strongly felt in the nuclear
energy field [226,227] (see also Section 4).

3.5. Data Management

Data management is becoming an intrinsic constituent of the mainstream research
process in all fields [228–232]. The specific reasons can be many, but the substratal mo-
tivations are improved science and greater opportunities for innovation. In the specific
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 26 of 48

case of materials, data management enables the application of modern techniques, such as
those described in the previous sections (data-driven modelling, materials health monitor-
ing, autonomous materials discovery, . . . ), while facilitating more traditional qualification
approaches, where the formulation of design rules for relevant codes is hindered by the
scarcity of data. Over past decades plenty of test and measurement data have been gener-
ated through national and international research programmes, but these are often difficult
to access and retrieve. While web-enabled databases have been and are being devel-
oped [233,234], potential data providers often do not add their data there, for three main
reasons: (i) they are proprietary data protected by confidentiality and therefore cannot be
shared; (ii) there is no sufficient motivation for data producers to spend unpaid time and
resources for data upload; (iii) the hard, skilled and time-consuming work of data search,
often data analysis and always data adaptation to the format of the databases, is hardly
ever considered a task in itself, to be duly funded. Given the cost of generating materials
qualification data, however, it seems obvious that appropriate data collection, storage
and preservation in suitable repositories, with easy access in full respect of intellectual
property rights, should be standard practice. Yet, barriers need to be overcome to make
it attractive for data generators and proprietors to put their data in the database. The
issue of respecting intellectual property rights is especially thorny: agreements are hard
to reach and are often too specific to be easily generalised. International organisations
such as IAEA or OECD/NEA may be able to partially help in this respect, by providing
pre-existing legal frameworks for data sharing [233]. To help, databases should also offer
flexible and adaptable tools, for example to guarantee protection of sensible data while
allowing access to the parts of them that can be disclosed, which may not be sensible any
more when extracted from the context (e.g., data on pressure vessel embrittlement without
revealing the plant); or provide the possibility to apply an embargo to data accessibility
for a number of years; and so on. There is also a “chicken-and-egg-type” problem to be
solved: it is attractive to spend time and effort to provide data to a database if this gives
access to data that otherwise would not be accessible; however, if the quantity of data in
the database is minimal, or the data are anyway openly available, this motivation largely
vanishes. The issue of unleashing skilled data retrievers can be in principle solved with
adequate funding. But an associated problem affects old data, i.e., these may eventually
turn out to fail to comply with modern data quality requirements, especially in terms of
accompanying data (metadata) that enable them to be reproduced and therefore re-used, or
protocols that were applied for their generation. Thus, the retrieval of old data for either
materials qualification or model calibration/validation in the future, although important
and to be added to the “to-do” list, is alas unlikely to contribute significantly to future
advances in materials qualification and development. However, the combination of newly
produced data in current and future projects that do enforce suitable data management
policies should, little by little, but steadily, succeed in creating a critical mass of data, which
will partly enable accelerated materials qualification, provided that suitable and attractive
databases are created. Ideally, these should: (i) be user-friendly, i.e., they should not only
enable the user to easily access and upload data, but also to “play” with them to address
issues of user interest, even several years after the data were generated; (ii) apply clear and
flexible, but unbreakable, rules of data protection; (iii) use simple and flexible formats that,
as much as possible, match the expectations of expert data producers and are sufficiently
clear for less expert data users; (iv) apply clear and strict data quality criteria, while also
being able to self-search for new data; (v) connect directly with the software that analyses
the data, to by-pass the need for humans to upload new data.
For data-driven modelling to be applicable, not only the quantity, but also the quality
and consistency of the data are crucial. AI can find the logic in a set of data only if these have
been generated and collected in such a way that such logic exists. Thus they must have been
all produced by applying consistent procedures. This is generally broadly guaranteed in the
case of standardised mechanical or corrosion property tests, or data coming from sensors
that all work and have been calibrated in the same way. Not necessarily so when microstruc-
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 27 of 48

tural characterization, or modelling, data are considered. In these cases, inconsistencies

between data may be originated by the different features, limitations and possibilities
offered by apparently similar types of instruments or techniques used to produce them, as
well as by different operator-dependent procedures or choices of measurement conditions,
or as a consequence of different parameters and assumptions that may be used for raw
data analysis. Data from different laboratories, therefore, too often cannot be merged [235].
Data of qualitative nature, e.g., micrographs, also pose problems of juxtaposition. Finally,
all data must be accompanied by all the important specifications that enable their repro-
ducibility: the completeness of these specifications may be challenging. Before AI methods
can be systematically used to include microstructural examination results as data-driven
modelling variables, therefore, there is a need to define accepted good practices, protocols
and possibly standards for the application of microstructural techniques, as well as for the
analysis of their results. Furthermore, consistently complete and consensual data formats
need to be established. This should allow full inter-laboratory comparability and provide
high guarantee of reliability, reducing scatter and uncertainty, irrespective of the number of
data that can become available. This process of standardization, or at least definition of
protocols, which needs to be extended to microstructural characterization techniques and
relevant data format, is also essential in view of developing MAPs (Section 3.4), because
only standardised characterization procedures can be automated, while only interoperable
data can be effectively used to make conclusions based on data analysis. Defining standard
good practices and formats, however, needs to be extended to all existing techniques and
requires consensus amongst the experts, therefore being a task in itself.
It is important to emphasise that the establishment of good practices, protocols and
possibly standards for (materials) data is a general problem, which concerns all technolo-
gies, and not only for the part that concerns materials. It is thus inherently a cross-cutting
issue, irrespective of the target application to materials. The FAIR (Findable, Accessi-
ble, Interoperable and Re-usable) Guiding Principles for scientific data management and
stewardship [236,237] are of universal application. Interoperability and re-use require
consistency of the data coming from different laboratories and to facilitate transfer between
different information systems. Standard formats for materials data need to be established
in order for the highly interconnected information and communication technology infras-
tructures that have emerged in recent years to become effective in appropriately storing
data and ensuring their availability for the purposes of future re-assessment.

4. Discussion
The expression “innovative material solution” has no unique interpretation: for a
researcher to innovate is to make something new, for a policy-maker to innovate is to put
a new product on the market. In the case of nuclear materials, the situation is especially
ambiguous, because a new material solution proposed by researchers with promising
properties for a given application clashes with either an industry (thus a market) that
might be reluctant to use it, or with the fact that the application is a reactor system that
does not exist, yet, thus cannot have a market, yet. In this context, what is, really, an
“innovative nuclear material solution”? It should be interpreted as one that “enables
significant improvements in reactor design and operation”, for instance leading to increased
safety and efficiency, enhanced flexibility and/or prolonged component lifetime [221], as
well as potentially cost abatement, irrespective of whether it actually rapidly accesses a
market, which in the nuclear field often does not exist, yet, or is limited.
Having given this definition, how are innovative material solutions for nuclear energy
created and adopted? It happens in four steps, some of them partly overlapping: (i)
adoption (if already available), development, or possibly discovery, of new materials
solutions, which often are improvements of the features of existing solutions based on
designers’ requirements or declared industrial needs; (ii) industrial upscaling of new
materials solution’s fabrication, including joining, to make a supply chain possible; (iii)
materials solution’s qualification for the target application to enable design, licensing and
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 28 of 48

eventually construction; (iv) application of material and component health monitoring

for optimised lifecycle. The enablers for all these steps are modelling in all its forms and
supporting digital technologies, i.e., high performance computing, artificial intelligence,
digital twins, . . . , together with appropriate data management. The imperative to foster
innovation is that all these steps should become easier, faster and cheaper. The description
of the various nuclear materials science approaches in Section 3 suggests that:
• The creation of integrated test-beds dedicated to nuclear materials, and in general
materials for harsh operating conditions, can be an effective pathway for accelerated
materials qualification and industrial upscaling, based on coordinated exploitation
of existing and future facilities and infrastructures at the service of both industry
and research.
• Hybrid models that combine physics-based and data-driven approaches, e.g., making
use of few-shot learning techniques, can be an effective methodology for nuclear mate-
rials, with the potential of optimally blending the capabilities of by now “traditional”
multiscale tools and approaches (the development of which has absorbed much effort
in the last few decades [165]) with recent data-driven empirical trends.
• Current NDE&T systems complement more traditional characterization methods to
monitor the progressive change of material properties over the whole component
lifecycle. Multi-parameter-based approaches combining different NDE techniques
efficiently characterize materials’ properties (“material DNA”) similarly to having
different human-senses, thanks to AI algorithms that remove irrelevant or spurious
data, best blended in cognitive sensor systems, for advanced digital twin concepts.
• The development of MAPs dedicated to nuclear materials, or more generally materials
for harsh operating conditions, is an ambitious, but extremely promising goal to apply
a “design and control” paradigm for materials screening and perhaps discovery, with
high potential to boost innovation in a field that needs it [226,227], allowing variables
related with circularity and sustainability to be included from the start (“sustainability
by design” [238]).
• The creation and, crucially, population with data of a modern, user-friendly, flexible,
efficient, protected and especially attractive nuclear materials database, coupled with
the consensual definition of materials examination protocols and relevant data format,
is largely a prerequisite for the success of the above endeavours.
The concept of test bed, with different nuances of interpretation, is being applied to a
large number of frameworks and technologies. In the case of healthcare, a test bed is a real
life study, on a portion of population located in a specific region, of the effect of introducing
innovative procedures, generally digitally-based, for the treatment of specific types of
illness or patient condition. The study concerns all levels, i.e., not only or not necessarily
the effects of specific drugs, but more importantly also how in practice the patients are
treated with them and their conditions followed to check improvements. The UK National
Health Service launched an interesting initiative of this type already several years ago [239].
In 2020 a similar initiative has been proposed, also in the UK, to test the implementation of
innovative technologies related with climate change mitigation and adaptation, circular
economy, clean energy, etc. [240]. In the case of advanced materials the EU supports test
beds, in the sense described in Section 3.1, focused on nanotechnologies and functional
materials [158]. Test-beds can be equally useful for nuclear materials, provided that there is
willingness to integrate facilities, infrastructures and assets in general, which are spread all
over Europe, under a single umbrella of coordinated, flexible and advanced exploitation.
The spectrum of potential customers increases significantly if the test-bed is dedicated in
general to materials operating under harsh conditions, of which irradiation is only one of
many agents. A test-bed of wide application can be built incrementally, starting from pilot
experiences that have limited targets and involve a limited number of participants, and
then progressively moving towards higher levels of integration and flexibility. These small
pilots will enable higher quality services to be provided to stake-holders for specific types
of materials characterization, at a level that no single laboratory, and perhaps not even
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 29 of 48

a single country, is generally capable of doing. It corresponds to institutionalizing what

is customarily done in a collaborative research project for its limited duration, where the
same material is characterised by different laboratories, each using the technique in which
it is specialised or for which it can offer established, and perhaps unique, expertise. The
combination of the results and their implementation in suitable models, e.g., of hybrid type,
is the added high value of this collaboration, which, in the case of a test-bed, becomes stable.
In addition, specific attention should be given to identifying, developing and standardizing
accelerated non-destructive characterization methods, taking advantage of the possibility of
using multiple techniques or multi-parameter hybrid techniques in a coordinated way and
fusing their results, following protocols or designs of experiments that still need to be firmly
established and, quite obviously, with the support of dedicated models. One significant
issue when fusing results from different techniques is the use of a unique data format in
order to be able to merge all these data in a common database. Harmonised approaches
based on lessons learned when different laboratories apply the same physical principles
of a method, using different ways of processing signals and data, need to be agreed upon.
The technological challenge of creating a nuclear test-bed is significant, but it also has an
important political and managerial dimension, which must not be underestimated.
Concerning modelling, Europe has a long, well-rooted and established history of
projects dedicated to predicting the behaviour of nuclear materials in operation, especially
under irradiation [165]. These projects have produced tools, skills and expertise especially
in the framework of multiscale modelling approaches. These tools, skills and expertise
need to be exploited at their best by blending them with emerging data-driven approaches,
taking into account the specificities of nuclear materials issues. Among them, the most
burning one is the almost chronic lack of sufficient data for model validation/calibration, as
well as for qualification. While this can be partially offset by suitably integrated dedicated
test-beds, hybrid models are expected to enable complex problems, for which purely
physics-based modelling tools are still lacking (e.g., corrosion issues), to be addressed
in a more effective way, so as to become usable for assessments also at industrial level.
The challenge is here mainly theoretical and technical and will require the coordinated
involvement of scientists of all ages, with a wide spectrum of expertise, providing the
opportunity for young researchers coming from non-nuclear fields (e.g., digital techniques)
to become involved in nuclear materials, and nuclear energy, applications.
The development of MAPs is exceptionally challenging in the case of nuclear materials,
because of the complexity of the combined exposure, often under load, to irradiation,
temperature and chemicals (fluids), with the subsequent difficulty of integrating the rapid
and iterative evaluation of these effects on a single automated platform, using indicators
of long-term degradation resistance that are far from obvious to identify. Modelling and
digital techniques are clearly of crucial importance here, as well, and here, too, advances
can be made incrementally, by focusing on specific problems or techniques and then
progressively integrating different aspects. While the goal may appear science-fictional, it is
nevertheless essential that nuclear materials scientists do not lag behind and strive to make
use of these new methodologies, adapting them to their specific needs, because no-one
else will do this for them. The potential benefits that these emerging materials science
approaches may bring are tremendous in terms of reducing costs and times towards the
much needed nuclear innovation. The development of a “nuclear MAP”, similarly to the
“nuclear materials test-beds”, is a challenge that only close collaboration at European level
may have the chance of tackling. Like in the case of test-beds, such MAPs, dedicated to
materials for harsh operating conditions, may also serve other energy technologies and
would maintain the long tradition of nuclear applications to be the crucible for materials of
wider application than just nuclear [241–245].
Finally, producing a centralised nuclear materials database sounds like a sort of utopia,
because of the formidable challenges that this goal raises also from the legal and political
points of view. It is, however, a clear and undeniable need, to which effort has been
already and is still being dedicated [234,246]. The brief description of the related issues in
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 30 of 48

Section 3.5 hints at the fact that many of the related challenges can be addressed with the
help of suitable digital tools and, especially, with the skill of database masters that should
make its use fully fit for the purpose according to requirements, having the data providers
and the data users’ needs as the main criteria for the design of the database.

5. Conclusions
The number of possible nuclear reactor systems and nuclear energy policy strategies
is finite, but fairly large, and almost all of them are being considered in Europe. Privileging
one over another is largely a matter of political choice of a country, or strategic choice of a
company, that the nuclear materials science community in Europe and elsewhere cannot
make and cannot formally interfere with. This community, however, is called to stably
provide the tools, skills and knowledge that should enable safer and more sustainable
(in a broad sense) operation and construction of current generation reactors, as well as
reduction of costs and time for design, licensing and construction of any next generation
nuclear system, in the interest of, a priori, any country or customer company, and chiefly
society. Likewise, although the classes of materials that are suitable for application in the
nuclear energy field are limited, the possible choices of actual materials and combinations
thereof cover a wide spectrum, especially for next generation systems. The definition of a
programme of full qualification of a given material solution for a specific application and
design is clearly the task of the organization, or consortium of organizations, that lead the
specific project and should bear the relevant costs. However, once again the nuclear materi-
als science community should stably provide the tools, skills and knowledge to explore
the different possibilities and come up with a series of good materials solution candidates,
with sufficiently good properties to justify (and enable) industrial production, out of which
the designers of a specific system can make a choice based on their specific needs and move
towards full qualification. Ideally, the proposed material solutions should be designed
to respond to requirements, taking into account, as much as possible, also criteria that
go beyond the strict engineering performance, i.e., including aspects of circularity and
sustainability at large. The community should also guarantee the skills and knowledge for
the full qualification, using at best available infrastructures and facilities.
Consistently, a European strategic research agenda in support of innovation and
coherent with the goals of the Green Deal [247], in connection with the clean energy
transition, needs to aim at developing and establishing ambitious assets that are specific
in nature, but also of broad interest for a large spectrum of (nuclear and non-nuclear as
well) industrial applications. Several European countries need to share this same goal,
which should inherently allow all of them to valorise their own research assets, in terms of
facilities and infrastructures, as well as knowledge and skills. It is here proposed that these
goals can be the development and establishment of structured materials qualification test-
beds and materials acceleration platforms for nuclear materials (or materials that operate
under harsh conditions at large), as well as the development of multi-parameter-based
approaches for materials health monitoring using different NDE&T techniques. Hybrid
models that suitably combine physics-based and data-driven approaches can valuably
support these developments, together with the creation and population of a centralised,
“smart” database for nuclear materials, which should eventually become a reference for all
classes of quality data, including from MTRs and surveillance or monitoring.
Annex 1—GenIV Prototypes and Demonstrators in Europe
Over the last couple of decades Europe concentrated on four industrial GenIV fast
reactor prototype/demonstrator projects, namely: ASTRID [248], ALFRED [249,250], AL-
LEGRO [251] and MYRRHA [29,252], all of them promoted by the European Sustainable
Nuclear Industrial Initiative (ESNII—see Annex 2). The first three are, respectively, the
sodium, lead and gas cooled GenIV fast reactor demonstrators. The last one is a sub-critical
lead-bismuth cooled reactor to be made critical through a proton accelerator and spalla-
tion reactions that produce neutrons (accelerator driven system—ADS [28,29,47]). The
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 31 of 48

ASTRID project, which was driven by French EDF, AREVA and CEA, has been recently
(2019) cancelled [253]. The construction of the gas fast reactor demonstrator, ALLEGRO,
that is being designed by the V4G4 Consortium [254], is more and more pushed towards
the future. The lead-cooled fast reactor demonstrator/prototype, ALFRED, promoted by
the Falcon Consortium [255], remains on track. Finally, the construction of MYRRHA has
been partly enabled by the funding granted by the Belgian government to SCK CEN until
2038. However, MYRRHA is not thought as a power reactor, but rather as an experimental
facility that can be used for several purposes, which makes use of, or anticipates, GenIV
technology. In parallel, a spin-off company of KTH in Sweden, LeadCold, is working at
the design of a lead-cooled SMR [256]. Concerning other GenIV reactor concepts, i.e., the
supercritical water reactor (SCWR) and the molten salt reactor (MSR), work is underway
in several European countries, although no structured industrial initiative has yet been
created around any of them in Europe, e.g., within ESNII. The MSR is currently receiving
close attention at research level, especially in France and in the Netherlands [257], as well
as in the Czech Republic [258]. In parallel, two startups based in Denmark are promoting
molten-salt-cooled SMRs for various purposes and with varying detailed features [259,260].
Finally, the HTR is the focus of the NC2I pillar of SNETP [261] (see Annex 2).
Annex 2—Nuclear Systems and Materials Dedicated Platforms in Europe
The Joint Programme on Nuclear Materials, JPNM [262], is, since 2010, one of the cur-
rently 18 joint programmes (JPs) of the European Energy Research Alliance, EERA, which
altogether cover the full spectrum of low-carbon energy technologies and systems [263].
EERA was created in 2008 in support of the European Strategic Energy Technology (SET)
Plan [264], which had been launched in 2007. EERA promotes cooperation among almost
250 (in 2021) public research organisations, under the motto “catalysing European energy
research for a climate-neutral society by 2050”, and by focusing on low Technology Readi-
ness Levels (TRL < 5 [221]), i.e., mainly dealing with research towards innovation. In
contrast, industrial implementation (TRL > 5) characterises the technology platforms and
the industrial initiatives, which are described in what follows in the case of nuclear energy.
The Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform (SNETP), launched in 2007,
supports and promotes safe, reliable and efficient operation of Gen-II, III and IV civil
nuclear systems [265]. In May 2019, SNETP became an international non-profit association
under Belgian law. It is considered by the European Commission as a European Tech-
nology and Innovation Platform (ETIP). Its members include industrial actors, research
and development organisations, academia, technical and safety organisations, SMEs and
non-governmental bodies. It stands on three pillars:
• NUGENIA (Nuclear GenII&III Alliance) [266]: It supports the R&D of nuclear fission
technologies, with a focus on Gen II & III nuclear power plants, providing scientific and
technical support to the community, through initiation and promotion of international
R&D projects and programmes.
• ESNII (European Sustainable Nuclear Industrial Initiative) [267]: It promotes Gen-
eration IV Fast Neutron Reactor technology demonstrators and supporting research
infrastructures, fuel facilities and R&D work. Designing, licensing, constructing, com-
missioning and putting into operation demonstrators for new reactor technologies is
thus the main goal of ESNII.
• NC2I (Nuclear Co-generation Industrial Initiative) [268]: It promotes the demonstra-
tion of low-carbon cogeneration of heat and electricity based on nuclear energy, as
an innovative and competitive energy solution. Its target is the commissioning of
a nuclear cogeneration prototype within 10 years, to serve several energy-intensive
industries using this low-carbon energy technology.

Annex 3—Pathways to Nuclear Materials Improvement for Next Generation Reactors

Pathways to improve austenitic steels from the viewpoint of swelling and corrosion
resistance (especially against heavy liquid metals) are being explored. Higher swelling
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 32 of 48

resistance is pursued via microstructure stabilisation with selected alloying elements (for
instance AIM1 and its bettered version AIM2) [269–271]. Enhanced corrosion resistance is
sought for with corrosion barriers, either by implanting aluminum to change the surface
composition and induce the formation of a protective alumina layer [272,273], or by directly
depositing alumina (or other ceramics) layers to coat the metallic substrate [274–276].
Alternatively, aluminum is added to the alloy composition, to enable the formation of a
protective alumina layer that self-heals through contact with the oxygen that is contained
in the circulating fluids, so-called alumina forming austenitic (AFA) steels [277–281].
F/M steels (e.g., T91, EM10, HT9, or reduced activation F/M for fusion such as EU-
ROFER and F82H) outperform austenitic steels by offering higher thermal conductivity,
lower expansion coefficient and, especially, remarkable resistance to radiation-induced void
swelling [79,88], thereby revealing themselves as very suitable cladding and core materials.
For fusion applications F/M steels are essentially the only possible choice, because they
offer the possibility of tuning their composition to reduce significantly their end-of-life
activation: no other class of steels suitable for nuclear applications offers this possibility.
In GenIV applications swelling resistance is key to reaching high burnups by attaining
200 dpa (or more) in the cladding. However, F/M steels can currently operate only below
550 ◦ C [79,88,282,283], because of insufficient creep resistance. They also suffer from signif-
icant radiation-induced embrittlement below 350–400 ◦ C [79,88,284–286] and are especially
prone to liquid metal embrittlement (LME) when in intimate contact (wetting) with heavy
liquid metals (HLM), i.e., Pb-based alloys [287–289]. Reliable correlations and models for
the identification of design rules are therefore needed for this class of materials. Work in
this direction is being done in the case of EUROFER, the 9%Cr reduced activation F/M
steel that is envisaged as main structural material in the European fusion DEMO [290–292].
However, the compatibility with HLM and the resistance to high temperature and embrit-
tlement of F/M steels need to be improved, in order to reach higher levels of efficiency and
better economy. Two pathways are pursued to improve the creep properties of F/M steels:
(1) use of oxide-dispersion strengthened (ODS) steels [93,293–297], with a target of 700 ◦ C
or beyond as upper limit operating temperature [93,293,294]; (2) composition-tuning and
application of suitable thermal-mechanical treatments (TMT), in a conventional metallurgy
framework, with a target upper temperature limit of 650 ◦ C [294,298–301]. Metallurgical
techniques of the second type may also help to control radiation embrittlement below
350 ◦ C [302]. ODS are still manufactured using costly powder metallurgy techniques of dif-
ficult industrial upscaling, thus alternatives are being looked for [303–305]. Moreover, they
offset creep resistance with still relatively poor fracture toughness and low temperature
embrittlement [295,306]. However, they offer significantly improved radiation (swelling,
helium embrittlement, . . . ) resistance at high temperature [93,293,295]. Finally, the methods
to improve F/M steel corrosion resistance are the same as in austenitic steels: either surface
modifications/coatings [307–310] or alloy composition tuning with aluminum addition,
so-called FeCrAl (currently intensively studied for ATF cladding) [311–315]. The latter may
also be ODS, giving rise to a potentially very promising material (ODS-FeCrAl) that is
simultaneously resistant to irradiation, creep and corrosion [316–318].
For temperatures close to, or above, 800 ◦ C, no known steel can maintain its fit-
ness for purpose, with the partial exception of high Ni austenitic steels such as alloy
800 [95], which are therefore considered in GFR and (V)HTR. Ni-based alloys (e.g., Inconel
617, Haynes 230 and Hastelloy XR) are in this case possible candidates for components
outside the core, particularly heat exchangers [90]. However, under irradiation these
alloys suffer from quite severe irradiation embrittlement and also swelling, due to he-
lium production by transmutation from Ni [89,319–321], so their use in the core may be
critical. Yet, because of high temperature compatibility issues, these alloys are likely to
be the only possibility as core materials in the case of MSR prototypes [322–325]. One
possibility to use these alloy as reactor core materials could be the development of ODS
Ni-based alloys, as the oxide dispersion would produce traps for helium and improve
radiation resistance [326–328], like in the case of F/M ODS steels. Otherwise, refractory
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 33 of 48

elements need to be considered for in-core applications, including ATF. The spectrum
of alloys is quite wide [96,97,329], for both fission and fusion [330] and especially con-
sidered for space nuclear applications [331], often combining elements, either in solid
solution [96,97,329], or in layers [332,333]: molybdenum alloys [102,334,335] (U-Mo alloys
are also considered as proliferation-resistant fuel [336].), niobium alloys [331,337], vana-
dium alloys [97,333,338–340] and tungsten alloys [332,341,342], the two latter especially for
fusion, and tungsten exclusively for it [329,342]. Tantalum alloys have been considered
in the past in the US for space nuclear applications, but little information is available,
except for a few conference abstracts that can be found online. The main problem with
refractory metallic alloys is their brittleness, so generally developmental efforts are aimed
at alleviating this feature. Moreover, as in the case of F/M steels, both for Ni-based and
even more for refractory metallic alloys, suitable design rules need to be established.
Beyond refractory metallic alloys, ceramics generally offer very attractive properties
in terms of both stability to high temperature and resistance against wear and corro-
sion/erosion [343], the most commonly studied being SiCf /SiC (i.e., silicon carbide fibres
in silicon carbide matrix) composites [90,98–100,344], Cf /C (carbon fibers in carbon matrix)
composites [345] and alumina nanoceramics (mainly as protective coating) [346]. Not by
chance is nuclear fuel currently used in the form of a ceramic (UO2 , PuO2 , . . . ) [106–108],
as well. However, when used for structural purposes, these materials are penalised by
significant brittleness. This is why refractory materials for structural components, not
only ceramics as above, but also metallic [335,341], are generally considered in the form of
composites, containing fibres or other reinforcements that provide some type of pseudo-
ductile mechanical behaviour. Other possibilities may be layered materials [332,333,347],
or nanocomposites [101,347].
SiCf /SiC is the main candidate material for GFR cladding [90,344]. It is also a material
of use for the (V)HTR [98,99], in addition to the more conventional graphite [62,91,348],
and it is in principle also a suitable candidate ATF cladding [99], as well as for LFR and SFR,
in order to safely reach higher temperature and dose than with metallic cladding. However,
this material remains at low TRL and quite expensive to fabricate [99]. Furthermore, as for
essentially all ceramics that are considered for structural functions, design rules for it are
not developed [90].
The design of the high temperature gas cooled reactor concepts (GFR, V/HTR) also
requires appropriate materials solutions for thermal shielding and insulation, fuel matrix,
neutron reflectors and suitable control rods and seals, that would be operating close to
1000 ◦ C, or above and up to 1650 ◦ C in accidental scenarios [90,349] These materials
must guarantee at those temperatures properties of gas-tightness and corrosion resistance,
with the ability to be joined. At the moment, in addition to SiC, other materials such as
Cf /C, mullite (aluminosilicate), Al2 O3 , TiO2 , ZrC, ZrN, Zrx Siy , B4 C, WC, graphite or even
graphene are being explored for these functions [90,349–352].
Further gateways to improved future reactor performance are opened by perspec-
tive, generally ceramic or metallic refractory, materials, with specific radiation resistance
features [101,347]. Examples range from ODS-Mo alloys [102] and the already men-
tioned layered materials [332,333,347] or nanocomposites [101,347], to high entropy alloys
(HEA) [103,353–355], or the wider class of complex concentrated alloys/compositionally
complex alloys (CCA) [104,356,357], and MAX phases [105,358–362]. These are classes of
materials of still very low TRL, which, however, do appear to be promising in terms of
corrosion and radiation resistance, especially HEA/CCA [103,363–367]. These may have
applications as cladding materials [368,369], or to devise especially radiation resistant
refractory alloys for fusion applications [370–372]. CCA, characterised by being alloys with
many elements, none of which is dominating, and perhaps partially also MAX phases,
raise especially high interest because of the possibility of applying to them the combina-
torial methods of fabrication. This feature is very suitable to apply modern techniques
of autonomous materials discovery and development that are put forward in this paper,
Energies 2022, 15, 1845 34 of 48

which are based on the integrated use of high throughput automated characterization and
data-driven modelling, with the support of artificial intelligence [225].
An interesting overview on European Commission research on GenIV safety and
materials is provided in [373].

Author Contributions: L.M., A.A.M., M.B. and P.E.; writing—original draft preparation, L.M.;
writing—review and editing, A.A.M., M.B., M.C., P.E., A.J., P.K., K.-F.N., M.R. and M.T.; supervision,
L.M.; project administration, L.M.; funding acquisition, L.M. All authors have read and agreed to the
published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This project has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme
2019/2020 under grant agreement No. 899997 (ORIENT-NM project). The views and opinions
expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable.
Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Data Availability Statement: No new data were created or analyzed in this study. Data sharing is
not applicable to this article.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design
of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or
in the decision to publish the results.

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