STRUCTURAL MATERIALS FOR ELEMENTS OF NUCLEAR REACTORS EQUIPMENT

The paper presents the main results of research on the development of structural materials for equipment elements of existing and prospective nuclear power plants. The further development of nuclear energy largely depends on the development of advanced structural materials for new generation reactors and the improvement of materials for operating nuclear power plants. The results of research on the optimization the iron content of the zirconium alloy to increase corrosion resistance in the coolant and resistance to radiation growth are presented. Experimental determination of the laws of the behavior of impurities during the refining of chemically active and refractory metals made it possible to achieve a higher level of metals purity. It is shown that nickel alloys of the Hastelloy type, obtained from high-purity metal components, can be successfully used as a structural material of the MSRs. The high requirements for structural materials regarding the content of impurity elements can be met only when high-purity metals are used as initial components and new technologies for their production are used.