b'ties for an ARMOR 1.0 replacement. The ARMOR 1.5 initiative was suspended due to poor perfor- General Electric is actively working on enhancing fuel mance in the boiling water reactormaterials for light water reactors, aiming to improve their (BWR) stability screening tests.durability for both near-term (~5 years) and longer-term (~10 Both the ARMOR 2.0 initiativeyears) commercial deployment.and screening test methodology were advanced. A large number of screening tests were conducted on multiple ARMOR 2.0 concepts with mixed results. A down selec-tion for ARMOR 2.0 was planned for Q1 2023, however, none of the concepts were mature enough to merit a single selection for opti-mization. ARMOR 2.0 concepts tested in FY2023 were a mix of new concepts and optimization of existing concepts. The down selec-tion of ARMOR 2.0 will be revisited in the 2024 fiscal year.The advancements in the char-acterization of IronClad (FeCrAl) continued during the 2023 fiscal year and most of the results were published in more than 10 articles. More manuscripts will appear in the following period. Reported by Dan LutzHotcell examinations of ARMOR and wrought C26M (IronClad) rodlets irradiated in ATR (ATF-2) have continued in 2023 at INL. Hotcell examinations of a wroughtpreparation, mechanical testing,Figure 1. Technologies considered C26M lead test assembly (LTA)and microstructural characteriza- under GE-led ATF Programsegmented rod irradiated in Hatchtion of the earliest generations #1 have also continued in 2023 atof the wrought C26M alloy class ORNL. Notably, the hotcell exami- to establish the extent and cause nations have focused on sampleof irradiation embrittlement. 2023|AFC ACCOMPLISHMENTS 141'