Safety is of paramount importance in nuclear energy production, and in particular where the industry is faced with the problem of extending the life of aged nuclear fission power plants. The re-assessment of the structural integrity of such aged nuclear reactors or other critical components under severe accident scenarios requires the measurement and/or the knowledge of the dynamic mechanical properties of their materials.

A wealth of such data, produced over the last decades at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, is provided in this report. They have been systematically collected from several dispersed sources and publications, and carefully controlled for their reliability. The materials investigated include mainly austenitic stainless steels and ferritic steels.

The data reported consist of stress-strain curves describing the uniaxial mechanical behaviour of the materials with respect to high strain-rate, high temperature, pre-damage by irradiation, fatigue, creep, thermal ageing, size effect and special strain-rate histories. The report also includes a description of the testing machines and techniques used, originally developed at the JRC. As indicated, this review could also contribute in orientating research regarding the mechanical characterisation of irradiated steels for future fusion reactors.