Nucl. Tracks Rodiat. Meos., Vol. 14, No. 4, p. 483, 1988. ht. J. Radiar. Appl. Instrum., Part D Printed in Great Britain

0191-278X/88 53.00 + 0.00 Pergamon Press plc

BOOK REVIEW

INFLUENCE OF RADIATION ON MATERIAL PROPERTIES Proceedings of the 13th International Symposium on Effects of Radiation on Materials, held in Seattle, WA, U.S.A., June

1986 (Part 2), STP 956

Editors: GARNER, HENAGER and IGATA

Published by the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM), 1916 Race Street, Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A.

THIS publication, containing a total of 800 pages, is a compilation of papers presented at a symposium sponsored by the ASTM Committee on Nuclear .Technology and Applications which was held in June 1986. The meeting was one of a series which started in 1960 to provide a forum for the discussion of the changes in the behaviour of materials exposed to radiation.

Although a large corpus of data already exists in this area of endeavour, it is obvious that continued use of nuclear reactors to provide a significant part of the power requirements of the developed and underdeveloped regions of the world, will demand constant assessment of the fundamental behavioural changes in materials exposed to high doses of radi- ation over extended periods.

This volume maintains a reasonable balance be- tween theoretical and experimental approaches to the problem and the quality of the illustrations is of a very high standard throughout. It is devoted mainly to radiation-induced changes in the mechanical prop erties of metals, non-metals and alloys. Several pa- pers on the dosimetry of radiation environments, irradiation facilities, along with some contributions

on irradiation creep and creep rupture, are also included.

The wide range of materials used in the construc- tion, operation, testing and maintenance of nuclear reactors is treated in detail. While there are many contributions which deal with radiation effects on metals and alloys, non-metallic materials such as ceramic nuclear fuels, elastomeric seals and glass fibres, which are part of the nuclear reactor scenario, are included too. Consideration is also given to the problems which will be encountered in the devel- opment and operation of fusion reactors.

The very comprehensive selection of papers in- cluded in this volume represents an important con- tribution to the field of radiation studies and provides an up-to-date record of the state of the art in this important area of technology. Other papers presented at the 13th ISERM, dealing mainly with radiation- induced changes in microstructure, are presented separately in ASTM STP 955.

D. O’SULLIVAN Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

Book Reviews Editor

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