  Predicting volume swelling of structural materials in nuclear reactors under
high-dose neutron irradiations based on existing low-dose experiments or
irradiation data with high-dose-rate energetic particles has been a
long-standing challenge for safety evaluation and rapidly screening
irradiation-resistant materials in nuclear energy systems. Here, we build an
Additional Defect Absorption Model that describes the irradiation-induced
swelling effects produced by energetic electrons, heavy-ions, and neutrons by
considering additional defect sinks inherent in the irradiation process. Based
on this model, we establish quantitative methods to predict high-dose swelling
from low-dose behavior and obtain the equivalent irradiation dose for different
energetic particles when the dose rates differ by several orders of magnitude.
Furthermore, we propose a universal parameter to characterize the swelling
resistance of various alloys and predict their radiation tolerances under
different radiation conditions. This work provides quantitative prediction
methods for evaluating irradiation-induced swelling effects of structural
materials, which is critical to the safety and material development for
advanced nuclear reactors.
