Advanced Reactor Materials Initiative

Advanced Reactor Materials Initiative (ARMI)

Advanced non-light water reactor designs offer interesting possibilities for generating carbon-free electricity in a variety of environments. Those same designs may create operating environments that are higher temperature or more corrosive than existing reactors. Addressing these challenges requires developing and characterizing new and existing materials to meet these demands.

What can be done?

EPRI is launching the Advanced Reactor Materials Initiative (ARMI), a multi-year global collaborative project focused on developing and deploying new and existing materials to support the licensing and long-term operation of advanced non-light water reactors.

What is ARMI’s focus?

ARMI directly addresses several critical focus areas associated with the use of materials in advanced reactors:

  • Extend the operating envelope (temperature and lifetime) for materials already qualified

  • Develop required data to add new materials to codes & standards (ASME, RCC-M, etc.)

  • Generate, compile, and curate environmental data (irradiation, corrosion, etc.) to support reactor design, licensing, reduce project risk and long-term operation.

  • Develop accelerated qualification approaches and technical basis to de-risk reactor licensing and support timely deployment of AR designs.

  • Conduct manufacturing and fabrication demonstrations, ensuring an available supply chain 

Through ARMI, EPRI will align and manage industry R&D activities to address gaps in materials data and codification. Novel qualification approaches and paradigms may be demonstrated with codes & standards bodies and regulators. Most importantly, material R&D projects will be conducted leveraging EPRI's existing collaborative model and integration with all facets of the supply chain.

Who should join ARMI?

Stakeholders who are interested in material development and advanced reactor deployment. Potential participants include advanced reactor developers, new build project owners, owner‐operators, material and component suppliers, material testing R&D organizations, and other research entities.

What are the benefits of ARMI for participants?

  • Direct input into the identification and prioritization of R&D activities to more effectively prioritize testing of those future materials of greatest interest and value.
  • Access to a collaborative approach that reduces costs of qualification, data capture, and deployment, thereby increasing participant value by sharing resources and material purchasing power.
  • Access to ARMI funded research results including material property databases, handbooks, and material degradation matrices to enable design decisions and referenceable resources for licensing.
  • Access to demonstrations of innovative materials science techniques to accelerate qualification and licensing of advanced reactors.

Where to go for more information:

Contact Marc Albert, EPRI Principal Team Lead, Transformative Nuclear Technology (malbert@epri.com)