Materials performance is critical to the safe and economic operation of any nuclear system. As the international community pursues the development of Generation IV reactor concepts and accelerator driven transmutation systems, it will be increasingly necessary to develop advanced materials capable of tolerating the more challenging environments of these new systems. The international community supports numerous materials research programmes, with each country determining its individual focus on a case-by-case basis. In many instances, similar alloys of materials systems are being studied in several countries, providing the opportunity for collaborative and cross-cutting research that benefits different systems.

This report is a snapshot of the current materials programmes supporting the development of advanced concepts. The descriptions of the research are grouped by concept, and national programmes
are described within each concept. The report provides an overall sense of the importance of materials research worldwide and the opportunities for synergy among the countries represented in this overview.