High-temperature resistant materials and structural ceramics for use in high-temperature reactor and fusion reactor plants-requirements for modern physico-chemical analysis

Abstract

Following a brief description of primary energy requirements and the available resources, the application of advanced high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTR) for nuclear process heat and the technological aspects of Tokamak fusion reactors are reported. In both areas, the development of materials, in general, and materials characterization using modern physico-chemical methods, in particular, are crucial. The investigations for the HTR are concentrated on the optimization and on the verification of the long time behaviour of the materials. In contrast, the fusion reactor materials work is concerned with fundamental development stages and with plasma-wall interactions.

The emphasis is placed on the characterization of materials and on the invesitgation of reaction mechanisms, for which modern analytical techniques are required. In addition to the development and specific optimization of modern physico-chemical analysis techniques, the application potential for the methods is outlined and the available results are discussed.