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3D Printing Possibilities: Additive Manufacturing Impact Limiters for Transportation Casks
With the significant advances in additive manufacturing (AM), otherwise known as 3D printing, Orano Federal Services and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte recently re-examined the capabilities to print impact limiters for transportation casks used to ship spent nuclear fuel. Impact limiters protect transportation casks (sometimes also referred to as transportation overpacks) and their contents during an accident. Impact limiter designs must withstand testing based on a certain significance level of hypothetical accidents, including drops, crushing, fires, and immersion in water.
Ryan P. Abbott, Michael A. Gerhard, Kevin J. Kramer, Jeffery F. Latkowski, Kevin L. Morris, Per F. Peterson, Jeffrey E. Seifried
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 2 | August 2009 | Pages 618-624
Laser Fusion-Fission Hybrid | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST18-8002
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Laser Inertial confinement fusion - Fission Energy (LIFE) engine encompasses the components of a LIFE power plant responsible for converting the thermal energy of fusion and fission reactions into electricity. The design and integration of these components must satisfy a challenging set of requirements driven by nuclear, thermal, geometric, structural, and materials considerations. This paper details a self-consistent configuration for the LIFE engine along with the methods and technologies selected to meet these stringent requirements. Included is discussion of plant layout, coolant flow dynamics, fuel temperatures, expected structural stresses, power cycle efficiencies, and first wall survival threats. Further research to understand and resolve outstanding issues is also outlined.