In the U.S., many nuclear power plants are expected to pursue extending plant lifespans through subsequent license renewal (SLR) from 60 to 80 years. Extended plant operation and SLR rely on aging management programs (AMPs) to identify degradation prior to impacting the safety function of the component. AMPs generally involve inspections with scopes and intervals informed by the state of knowledge and understanding of the underlying aging mechanism. Meanwhile, in recent years, a number of nuclear plants, both in the U.S. and internationally, have shut down or announced plans to shut down, which provide opportunities for harvesting components that were aged in representative light water reactor (LWR) environments. These harvested components can provide highly representative aged materials for research because they have been exposed to actual in-service plant operating conditions, such as time at temperature, dose, corrosion environment, etc. Research and data from harvested materials can increase confidence and reduce uncertainty in the understanding of aging mechanisms due to the highly representative aging conditions seen by the materials compared to accelerated
irradiation programs in experimental test reactors or ion/proton beamlines. Increased confidence in materials performance can in turn help improve regulatory decision-making and confidence and potentially reduce inspection effort needed to ensure safety through AMPs. Harvesting can be expensive and time-consuming, which makes it essential to focus on those technical issues with the highest value for harvesting and cooperate with multiple organizations whenever possible to optimally leverage
resources. Some harvesting efforts are underway internationally and further harvesting from plants with optimal aging conditions and materials could help further guide regulatory and industry decisions. This paper presents information and perspective on the value of harvesting and archiving of materials for improving knowledge of materials degradation topics.