An ultrahigh nitrogen austenite phase diffusion hardening covering layer for pump shafts of nuclear grade pumps belongs to the field of material surface engineering, and comprises pump shafts of a nuclear first-grade pump, a nuclear second-grade pump and a nuclear third-grade pump, which are made of Fe-Cr-Ni austenite stainless steel, as well as a hardening covering layer and a transition layer, wherein the hardening covering layer and the transition layer have the advantages of wear resistance, corrosion resistance, fatigue resistance and irradiation resistance and are arranged on the surfaces of the pump shafts. The covering layer is characterized in that the ultrahigh nitrogen austenite phase diffusion hardening covering layer, which is 15 to 25 micro in thickness, and has the surface roughness Ra lower than 0.5 micro, is prepared through using a plasma base nitriding method at 250 to 450 DEG C, the preparation of the covering layer is the last procedure in pump shaft manufacture, the hardening covering layer comprises a single ultrahigh nitrogen austenite phase, the peak value of the nitrogen concentrations in gradient distribution is 20 to 35 at.%, the hardness is 15 to 22 GPa, no hole and no microcrack are generated, and the residual compressive stress is higher than 2 GPa. The covering layer has the advantages that the preparation process is simple, follow-up processing is not required, no pollution is caused, and the performance is superior to the electrochromism covering layer used for the current pump shafts of the nuclear grade pumps.