History of Science and Engineering Annotation << Back Radiation Materials Science in ORM IRMT, 60 Years Platonov P.A. The article reviews evolution of works in the field of radiation materials science in ORM since creation of first in USSR «hot» laboratory in 1951 (works began in 1952) and up to 2012. It names first staff and supervisors of the «hot» laboratory as well as scientific collectives and their activities. The article describes first works of the laboratory, which were dedicated to exploration of fuel elements of industrial reactors (blocks of metallic uranium); search works aimed at investigation of the radiation influences on different features, such as radiation effects on mechanical properties of pure metals and some construction materials, electrical resistance, internal friction; works aimed at investigations of radiation growth of metallic uranium and relaxation of elastic stresses and radiation diffusion. Partially these works were presented in course of the conference in Geneva dedicated to peaceful usage of nuclear energy. Since mid 50-ies and particularly since 60-ies intensive research of fuel for different types of reactors was launched. The article reviews some stages of research for fuel elements of VVER-400, incl. the works which were aimed at proving the operability and safety of fuel elements for Finnish NPP Loviisa, which was the trigger for significant growth of level of such investigations. Key issues for fuel elements of VVER-1000 are reviewed as well. The article mentions researches of VVER fuel, performed in course of joint Soviet-Finnish program «SOFIT», as well as researches of fuel elements for ship installations. Significant part of the article is dedicated to research works in respect of materials for pressure vessels (PV) of VVER reactors since 60-ies and up to nowadays, incl. international programs TACIS, TAREG, etc. The article describes a critical situation which arose in late 70-ies–early 80-ies and which related to the detection of accelerated embrittlement of PVs of first generation’ VVERs. Solution of this problem is described as well, incl. the issues of prolongation of PVs’ resource. Also some aspects of resource prolongation for VVER-1000 are reviewed. The article considers some aspects of investigations of graphite and zirconium channels of RBMK reactors. These works are reviewed in brief, as the history of these investigations was the subject of separate articles. The part dedicated to graphite investigations includes description of the works for high-temperature reactors (HTGR) and investigations after the accident on Chernobyl NPP. The article considers in brief the works on polymeric materials and on physical nature of radiation damage in materials. Keywords: radiation material science; «hot» laboratory; fuel elements; materials for reactor pressure vessels; graphite for HTGRs; zirconium channel pipes; radiation damage nature. Contacts: E-mail: platonov@irtm.kiae.ru Pp. 03-27.