SMR Pressure Vessel

Manufacturing and
Fabrication
D. Gandy
Sr. Technical Executive,
[email protected]
M. Albert,
Sr. Technical Leader,
[email protected]

DOE AMM Technical

Review Webinar

December 18, 2019

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 Outline
§ Background & Objectives
§ Development/Demonstration of 4 Advanced Manufacturing/
Fabrication Technologies
§ 2/3-Scale SMR Manufacturing/Fabrication – Phase 1
§ Component Dimensioning
§ Electron Beam Welding
§ Applicability to Advanced Reactors -- Summary

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 Vessel Manufacture and Fabrication
§ What if it only took 12 months to produce a reactor
pressure vessel?
§ What if you could perform an entire SMR RPV girth
weld in <60 minutes?
§ What if you could manufacture an entire SMR head in
< 3 months with no vessel dissimilar metal welds?
§ What if you could eliminate the need for in-service
examinations of girth welds?
§ What if you could perform vertical welds to join rolled
plates without subsequent embrittlement concerns? Representative Model
of NuScale Power
Reactor Vessel

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 Enabling the Next Generation of Nuclear Plants
-Scope

§ Manufacture Major Critical Components to Assemble

a 2/3-Scale SMR Reactor Pressure Vessel
§ Jointly Funded Collaboration
– EPRI, Nuclear AMRC, DOE, NuScale Power

§ Others
– Synertech-PM, Sheffield Forgemasters, Sperko
Engineering, Carpenter, ORNL, etc. Photograph provided
courtesy: NuScale Power

DOE Project: DE-NE0008629 What Once Took Weeks,

We Can Now Do In Hours…
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 Advanced Manufacturing
-Objectives

§ Rapidly Accelerate the Deployment of SMRs

§ Develop/Demonstrate New Methods for
Manufacture/ Fabrication of a Reactor Pressure
Vessel (RPV) in <12 months
§ Eliminate 40% from the cost of an SMR RPV,
while reducing the Schedule by 18 Months

200mm Electron Beam Weld

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 Electron Beam (EB) Welding
Why EBW?
§ One-pass welding!
§ No filler metal required.
§ EBW can produce welds w/ minimal HAZ
§ Nuclear-AMRC, TWI, Rolls-Royce & EPRI have 65mm (thick) x 3m length x 1.8m diameter
demonstrated in-chamber and/or local vacuum on Welding time: <10 minutes
thick section alloys Photograph provided courtesy: TWI (UK)

– Enables field/shop welding!

§ RPV girth welds (110mm thick) in <60 min

Inspection, Costs?
§ Huge savings in welding costs
(again, one pass welding)
§ Potential to eliminate in-service inspection!
Photograph provided courtesy: Nuclear AMRC (UK)

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 Powder Metallurgy-Hot Isostatic Pressing (PM-HIP)
Why PM-HIP?
§ Near-net shape and complex components (reduces
materials cost and machining)
§ Alternate supply route, shorter turn-around
Steam Separator
§ Considerable EPRI/Industry development over last 7
Inlet Swirler
years.
Large 316L SS Valve Body
§ Ideal for multiple penetration applications
(RPV or CNV head) vs expensive forgings

Inspection, Costs?
§ Homogeneous-Excellent inspection characteristics
§ Costs roughly equivalent to forging
§ Eliminates need for welds in some applications.
3700 lb BWR nozzle Partial RPV Ring Section

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 2/3rds Scale Small Modular Reactor • EPRI
Manufacture/Fabrication • Nuclear-AMRC
• US DOE
• NuScale Power

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 Lower Head – One-Half Section

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 Lower Head—Article 1

HIP Modeling—Shows Lower Head inside of the

Finished Capsule
Final part: ~6500lbs (2950 kg) @ 2/3rds scale; Full
Scale is ~11,000lbs (1/2 section) (4990kg)

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 Lower Halves– Capsule Completed

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 Custom Frame Built for the One-Half Lower Head Section

§ Non-symmetrical component in one-half

section.
§ Custom rack required due to size of existing
HIP furnaces in USA.
§ 1.67m (66 inches) diameter in USA; 2m
(78.5 inches) in Japan
§ Must be stood upright in custom frame

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 One-Half Lower Head HIP’ed & Dimensioned

6910 lbs (3134kgs)

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 Lower Head Manufacture/Assembly

§ Three one-half section (at 2/3rds Remember….

scale) reactor heads modeled and 1. In general, HIP is used to produce
manufactured
“asymmetric parts”
§ 1st Article – Produced to gain
understanding of movement of
asymmetrical ½-head section during 2. EPRI/Synertech are pushing the
HIP envelope well beyond the previous
– Modeling and canning modified based on learning
from 1st Article experience with HIP for very large
§ 2nd and 3rd Articles produced section components
following analysis of 1st article

Note: Synertech-PM performed all

modeling and dimensioning. HIP was
performed at Bodycote Portland.

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 2nd Article—1/2 Section Head
Accessory
Basic Section
Section
Leg “B”
Section

Between
Legs
Section

Leg “A” Axial Base

Section Section

Axial Leg
Section

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 2nd Article—1/2 Section Head

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 Article 2

Blue region is slightly under

dimension by ~0.125-inch

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 Article 2

Blue region is under dimension by ~0.120-inch

Blue region is slightly under

dimension by ~0.025-inch

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 Article 2—Another View Blue – Design Dimension
Red – Design Component plus 1/2-inch
Black – Final Component with Capsule (after HIP)

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 Article 3—Lower Head

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 3rd Article—1/2 Section Head

Notice: Backing
Bar is included for
Article 3

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 Article 3—Lower Head

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 Article 3

Blue region is under dimension by ~0.200-inch.

Note: This area is confined solely to the
backing bar region.

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 Article 3

Blue region is under dimension by ~0.200-inch.

Note: This area is confined solely to the
backing bar region.

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 Article 3

Blue region is slightly out of dimension

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Article 3 – More Views

Blue – Design Dimension

Red – Design Component plus 1/2-inch
Black – Final Component with Capsule
(after HIP)
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 Small Modular Reactor
Upper Head

§ ~44% scale
Photographs courtesy of EPRI
§ A508 Class 1, Grade 3 and NuScale Power
§ 27 penetrations
§ 1650kg (3650lbs); 1270mm (50
inches) diameter
§ Next, 2/3-scale head
§ Need larger HIP Vessel -- ATLAS

DOE Project: DE-NE0008629

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 EB Welding Development

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 Nuclear AMRC capabilities
Pro-beam K2000
Pro-beam K2000
Chamber size 8.7 x 5.2 x 4.6 m³
Chamber volume 208 m³

Max Work piece size 6.4 x 4.0 x 3.2 m³ at 100

tonne
Acceleration voltage 60 or 80 kV

Max beam power 30 or 40 kW

Wire feeder 2 off

Pump down time 45 min

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 Lower Assembly

Lower Flange Shell Mockup EB Weld -- ~6 ft (1.82m) Lower head to Lower Flange Shell
diameter (Note, mockup is upside down) (again, upside down)

Completed in 47 minutes
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 Cleaning of A508 Powders (via Vacuum Annealing) Places
the Powder in a “Pristine Condition” for Consolidation

6” x 6” x 6” 113ft-lbs = 153 joules

Test Blocks 84ft-lbs = 114 joules

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 Project Status (thru November 2019)
§ Steam plenum access port completed (EPRI ANT program)
§ 44% diameter (50-inch) A508 top head completed (EPRI ANT program)
§ Forgings for flanges, PZR shell, lower RPV section completed.
§ Three-half section A508 lower head, completed and dimensioned.
§ 1st Article for transition shell completed; two more Articles by January 2020.
§ EBW & DLC development @ Nuclear AMRC – 80% completed.
§ Heat treatment development – to be completed Q1-2020.
§ EB Mockup assembly of lower flange-to-shell completed.
§ EB Mockup joining lower head completed.
§ Frame for joining transition sections assembled.
§ Vacuum annealing of powders development completed.
§ Annual report completed.
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 SMR Vessel Manufacture & Fabrication
§ Focus on properties of large section components
§ Join 2/3rd scale lower RPV shell-to-flange.
§ Complete another lower half head.
§ Join 2/3rd scale lower halves, then weld to shell-to-flange
assembly.
§ Demonstrate QHT via mockup and then at 2/3rd scale
§ Complete 4 transition shell sections and weld them together.
§ Complete lower assembly.
§ Initiate upper assembly development.

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 Summary
§ Promise of technology to lower costs and change the way we produce
major thick section components.
§ Excellent progress on PM-HIP of large components
– Dimensionally demonstrated
– Need to now focus on properties for large sections
– Complete vacuum annealing of powders
§ EB and DLC development – 80% complete
§ Good progress on EBW Joining
– 47 minutes for mockup of flange-to-shell weld
– Completed mockup of lower head weld
– Need to now complete 2/3rd scale welds

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 Acknowledgements
US Department of Energy
§ Tansel Selekler, Dirk Cairns-Gallimore, Isabella van Rooyen

Nuclear AMRC
§ Will Kyffin, Matt Cusworth, Thomas Dutilleul, James Connell, Stephen Bloomer

Bridger Welding Engineering

§ Keith Bridger

Synertech-PM
§ Victor Samarov, Charlie Barre, Alex Bissikalov

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 Together…Shaping the Future of Electricity

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