In Situ Stress Corrosion Crack Repair and Mitigation

The U.S. depends on its fleet of nuclear facilities for the clean and reliable generation of electricity. With much uncertainty facing long term, geologic storage facilities, long duration on-site waste storage is being considered. VRC Metal Systems, in collaboration with our academic research partner, the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SDSM&T), and our robotics system developer, Robotic Technologies of Tennessee (RTT), propose to further develop and deploy a cold spray technology to mitigate and repair CISCC in austenitic stainless steel. The repair and mitigation solution will be deployed in-situ, thereby eliminating the need to disturb the canister and remove it from the overpack, greatly increase the safety in a potential repair situation. Mitigation of CISCC is both a safety and economic priority across the country and around the world. It is anticipated that the proposed mitigation method will completely obviate CISCC concerns for new canisters and provide a technologically sound and safe repair solution should evidence of CISCC or corrosion be detected in the existing fleet of dry storage canisters, providing assurance to the plant owner / operator as well as the public. Additionally, the development of robotic cold spray repair of stainless steel tanks could find applications in other energy sectors, such as fossil fuel storage and chemical processing tanks, thereby increasing the potential market for such a technology.