"Overview of a Welding Development Program for a Ni-Cr-Mo-Gd Alloy"
Hurt, W. L., D. E. Clark, R. E. Mizia, and C. V. Robino
Proceedings of the 2007 Annual Meeting of
the American Nuclear Society, Boston, June 2007
Full paper in PDF format
Abstract
The National Spent Nuclear Fuel Program (NSNFP), located at the Idaho National Laboratory, coordinates and integrates management and disposal of U.S. Department of Energy-owned spent nuclear fuel. These management functions include using the DOE standardized canister for packaging, storage, treatment, transport, and long-term disposal in the Yucca Mountain Repository. Nuclear criticality must be prevented in the postulated event where a waste package is breached and water (neutron moderator) is introduced into the waste package. Criticality control will be implemented by using a new, weldable, corrosion-resistant, neutron-absorbing material to fabricate the welded structural inserts (fuel baskets) that will be placed in the standardized canister. The new alloy is based on the Ni-Cr-Mo alloy system with a gadolinium addition. Gadolinium was chosen as the neutron absorption alloying element because of its high thermal neutron absorption cross section. This paper describes a weld development program to qualify this new material for American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) welding procedures, develop data to extend the present ASME Code Case (unwelded) for welded construction, and understand the weldability and microstructural factors inherent to this alloy.