The behavior of an open system of point defects in a metal which was irradiated at a temperature that was below one third part of the absolute melting point was analyzed. The analysis was based upon a consideration of the chemical potentials of interstitials and vacancies in supersaturated solid solutions. Account was taken of density effects which could be attributed to terms of higher order in the expansion of the chemical potential over the concentration of the solute species. It was shown that the mean square values of spatial fluctuations in the supersaturated solution increased markedly. Such a situation could occur under irradiation conditions where the sample temperature was low enough to reduce the mobility of point defects. These density effects were expected to cause spontaneous clustering at high supersaturations.

E.A.Koptelov, S.Ishino, S.Iwata, N.Sekimura: Journal of Nuclear Materials, 1996, 232[2-3], 87-97