Nuclear
Material
and
Waste
Disposal
The materials used in nuclear reactors must satisfy the mechanical and metallurgical requirements as adequate strength and corrosion resistance during operation and good ductility and machineability during fabrication. It is also necessary that the materials used should fulfill the required nuclear properties in addition to the above mentioned properties. In many cases, the nuclear properties play more important role in selecting the materials than their engineering properties. The major nuclear properties required for the materials used in nuclear reactors are low absorption cross section and high resistance to irradiation.
The
resistance
to
irradiation
is
very
important
because
many
materials
lose
engineering
properties
after
irradiation
and
become
unsuitable
even
during
operation.
The
number
of
materials
having
adequate
engineering
and
nuclear
properties
are
rather
limited
and
costly
also.
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