The advanced synchrotron radiation source, with the advantages of high flux, high coherence, high pulse repetition rate, etc., provides characterization methods such as X-ray diffraction, small-angle scattering, imaging, and spectroscopy. The in-situ environmental (such as temperature field, stress field, gas, solution medium, etc.) equipment combined with these characterization methods are important technical means for the measurement and evaluation of the service behavior and damage mechanism of materials and components used in nuclear energy systems. The damage behavior of nuclear materials under complex multifield environments such as temperature/stress/medium/neutron irradiation has long been the focus of the academic and industrial circles. The microstructure evolution, micromechanical behavior and damage mechanism of nuclear materials under the coupling action of multiple fields are the key scientific issues. This paper reviews the application of synchrotron radiation characterization techniques in the research of typical nuclear materials from several aspects, such as highenergy X-ray diffraction, microbeam diffraction, small-angle scattering, imaging/tomography, and spectroscopy. Finally, the future development directions of synchrotron radiation technology in nuclear materials research are prospected.