Abstract
AbstractThe existing capability and current development needs for implementing electroforming as a viable manufacturing process to produce copper cylinders with dimensions comparable to the Swedish KBS-3 design are discussed. Large freestanding copper cylinders can be produced readily, but there is a need to address challenges associated with controlling the electro-deposition process to conform to compositional and mechanical requirements of the copper layers produced. The methodology to optimize the manufacturing process, based on a study of key parameters, such as the effects of electrolyte additives on grain size and the chemical composition of electroformed layers, is described here. Possible ways to introduce a robust manufacturing route are also presented.
Highlights
THE concept for the UK’s inventory of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) is to implement deep geological disposal (Department of Energy & Climate Change, 2014; Padovani, 2014; Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, 2014)
2006; ARAO, 2009), whereas the Nuclear Waste Management Organization (NWMO) of Canada is focusing its research on thick-walled steel containers coated with 3 mm of electroplated copper (Keech et al, 2014)
Results obtained from analysis of samples produced with the 100 l electroplating set-up were compared with those obtained at the laboratory scale to study the possible effects of scaling up the plating process, with the overarching goal to produce KBS-3 type copper shells
Summary
THE concept for the UK’s inventory of high-level radioactive waste (HLW) is to implement deep geological disposal (Department of Energy & Climate Change, 2014; Padovani, 2014; Nuclear Decommissioning Authority, 2014). A feasibility study (BEP Surface Technologies Ltd, 2009) has demonstrated the possibility of electroforming copper shells of reduced length but the same diameter as the KBS-3 canister, and revealed that the technology to manufacture large-scale components exists.
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