• Frederick, Greg
• Smith, Allen W.
• Vance, Mark Christopher
• Tatman, Jonathan K.
• Tang, Wei
• Sutton, Benjamin J.
• Chen, Jian
• Miller, Roger G.
• Gibson, Brian T.
• Feng, Zhili
• Clark, Scarlett R.
• Hu, Xunxiang

Abstract

The advanced welding facility within a hot cell at the Radiochemical Engineering Development Center of Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which has been jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy, Light Water Reactor Sustainability Program and the Electric Power Research Institute, Long Term Operations Program and the Welding and Repair Technology Center, is in the final phase of development. Research and development activities in this facility will involve direct testing of advanced welding technologies on irradiated materials in order to address the primary technical challenge of helium induced cracking that can arise when conventional fusion welding techniques are utilized on neutron irradiated stainless steels and nickel-base alloys. This report details the effort that has been required since the beginning of fiscal year 2017 to initiate welding research and development activities on irradiated materials within the hot cell cubicle, which houses welding sub-systems that include laser beam welding (LBW) and friction stir welding (FSW) and provides material containment within the hot cell.

Topics

• impedance spectroscopy
• nickel
• stainless steel
• phase