Challenges to the use of ion irradiation for emulating reactor irradiation

Development of new materials for current and advanced reactor concepts is hampered by long lead times and high cost of reactor irradiations coupled with the paucity of test reactors. Ion irradiation offers many advantages for emulating the microstructures and properties of materials irradiated in reactors but also poses many challenges. Nevertheless, there is a growing body of evidence, primarily for light ion (proton) irradiation showing that many, if not all of the features of the irradiated microstructure and properties, can be successfully emulated by careful selection of irradiation parameters based on differences in the damage processes between ion and neutron irradiation. While much less has been done to benchmark heavy- or self-ion irradiation, recent work shows that under certain conditions, the complete suite of features of the irradiated microstructure can be emulated. This study summarizes the contributions of ion irradiation to our understanding of irradiation effects, the options for emulating radiation effects in reactors, and experience with both proton irradiation and heavy ion irradiation.