The Qualification of Candidate Graphites for Future High Temperature Gascooled Reactors

摘要

1. High-Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors (HTGRs) are graphite-moderated and helium-cooled. The graphite core components forming the moderator and reflector regions of the core assembly are subject to high fast neutron irradiation fluxes and high temperatures. These give rise to 'dimensional change' which is examined in this paper. 2. It is very important for core designers to be able to predict how the stresses within components develop as these could eventually lead to crack initiation. Therefore, there is a need for a comprehensive graphite materials database that adequately covers the dimensional change behaviour of their chosen graphite(s) and the way in which specific properties change with fast neutron irradiation.