CEA

Description of the legal entity

The CEA is The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. It’s a French public research organization, where 16,000 employees work and study. The CEA has a key player in research, development and innovation in four main areas: Defence and security, nuclear and renewable energies, technological and industrial research, Fundamental research in the physical sciences and life sciences. The missions of the CEA and the subjects of study are varied, for example the design of nuclear reactors, the manufacturing of integrated circuits, the use of radionuclides, the seismology and tsunami propagation, the safety of computerized systems, etc. The aim of the Irradiated Materials Study Department is to characterize the mechanical and microstructural behavior of the materials and their evolutions with irradiation, because the irradiation in a nuclear reactor tends to brittle materials. This concerns particularly to metals such as steel, aluminums alloy, zirconium, but also ceramics, refractory materials or graphite.
 

Profile of staff members involved
 

• Dr Tom Petit (male): PhD in Mechanics and Materials Science, Specialty: Fracture mechanics. Present position: Research engineer.
• Dr Benoit Tanguy (male): PhD in Mechanics and Materials Science. For more than 12 years at CEA investigating neutron irradiation effects on structural materials and in particular reactor pressure vessel material embrittlement.
  Present position: Laboratory head.
• Dr Bernard Marini (male): PhD in Material Sciences. For more than 30 years at CEA investigating mechanical behaviour of structural materials in relation with their microstructures and, in particular, reactor pressure vessel materials embrittlement due to thermal and irradiation ageing.
  Present position: International Expert in Materials Science at CEA Saclay.
• Mr Pierre Wident (male): Research engineer. For more than 27 years at CEA investigating mechanical behaviour of structural materials in relation with their microstructures and, in particular, reactor pressure vessel materials embrittlement due to thermal and irradiation ageing.
  Present position: Responsible of the fracture mechanic characterization in CEA/SRMA Lab.

Relevant publications, and/or products, services
 

• Hure J., Vaille C., Wident P., Moinereau D., Landron C., Benhamou C., Chapuliot S., Tanguy B., “Warm prestress effect on highly irradiated A508 Cl3 RPV steel” (2015), Journal of Nuclear Materials, 464: 281-293
• Pineau A., Tanguy B., "Advances in cleavage fracture modelling in steels: Micromechanical, numerical and multiscale aspects" (2010), Comptes Rendus de l'Académie des Sciences – Physique, 11: 316-325
• Tanguy B., Marini B., Vincent L., Forget P., "Irradiation effect in RPV steels: Macroscale modelling" (2012), SOTERIA, Training symposium on irradiation effects in Structural materials for nuclear reactors, 17-21 September 2012, Seville, Spain
• Tanguy B., Marini B., Wident P., Todeschini P., Joly P., “RPV fracture toughness of various metallurgical zones at very high fluences” (2018), FONTEVRAUD 9 ,17-20 September 2018, Avignon, France Contribution of Materials Investigations and Operating Experience to Light Water NPPs’ Safety, Performance and Reliability
• Hein H., Kobiela J., Brumovsky M., Houtilainen C., Lydman J., Marini B., Radiguet B.,  Starsev O., Serrano M., Hernandez R., Roeder R., Viehrig H.-W., “Addressing of specific uncertainties in determination of RPV fracture toughness in the SOTERIA project” (2018), FONTEVRAUD 9, 17-20 September 2018, Avignon, France Contribution of Materials Investigations and Operating Experience to Light Water NPPs’ Safety, Performance and Reliability
• Forget P., Marini B., Vincent L., “Application of local approach to fracture of an RPV steel: effect of the crystal plasticity on the critical carbide size” (2016), 21st European Conference on Fracture, ECF 21, 20-24 June 2016, Canatia, Italy, Structural Integrity Procedia 2 (2016) 1660-1667

Relevant previous projects or activities

Participation to European projects:

• PERFECT
• PERFORM 60
• SOTERIA
• LONGLIFE

Significant infrastructure and/or any major items of technical equipment

LECI : Hot Cell Laboratory