Abstract: Structural materials for use in nuclear reactors are subject to extreme environments, such as neutron irradiation, high temperature, various forms of mechanical loading, and corrosive media. Understanding the materials microstructure-property relationship is of critical importance to life extension of existing reactors and the development of advanced reactors.

In this talk, I will present the progress our group has made in bringing cutting-edge in situ X-ray diffraction and 3-D X-ray microscopy techniques to nuclear structural materials research. Several case studies will be presented that show that high-energy X-rays area powerful tool to probe to multiscale phenomena in neutron-irradiated alloys.