Materials Databases and Knowledge Management for Advanced Nuclear Technologies

International collaborations like the generation IV initiative have the aim to create the technical basis for design and operation of advanced nuclear plants. Materials data shall be created in joint international materials projects. Data will be aggregated in databases like the “Generation IV Materials Handbook.” Mechanical data, and microstructural information and information concerning materials production shall be included. This information will be used to create or amend code rules, to provide a basis for life-time analysis, damage assessments, and for safety analyses. Such considerations need not only raw materials data but also tools for data analysis and evaluation. Multiscale modeling, establishing constitutive equations, development of advanced life-time prediction methods, quantitative correlation of mechanical properties with microstructure, quantification of environmental effects, tools for nondestructive evaluation, and condition based monitoring are important analysis techniques needed for safe design and operation of advanced plants. These needs led the author to ask the question if current databases could not be enlarged by data evaluation and methods tools, which could even end some day in the availability of web-based design codes and safety analyses. The database could also be used as a web-based discussion and development space. It could become then a powerful tool for knowledge management. This paper will discuss this concept based on some examples.