Automated Welding of Nuclear Fuel Containers

Overview
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What is TANICS?

High integrity TRL 8 welding system and inspection equipment with capabilities that set it apart from anything currently being developed.

TANICSTM has been developed to address the problem of sealing and verifying long term storage containers remotely in the nuclear industry. TANICSTM consists of a robotic welding system capable of producing both full and partial penetration butt welds moving around a static stainless-steel container. The system produces high quality welds in accordance with PD5500 Cat 1 in addition to the demands of the Sellafield build level specification.

Post welding a robotic inspection system demonstrates that each weld is free of surface defects and meets the required standard.

TANICSTM also provides container design, verification and manufacturing services alongside deployment of robotic welding and inspection technology. As a result TANICSTM is the complete container solution.

Welding

TANICS™ is capable of welding austenitic stainless-steel containers, either circular or square/rectangular geometry, in a variety of sizes and material thicknesses. TANICS™ is currently qualified in accordance with BS EN ISO 15614-1 and dual coded with ASME IX. It currently meets the acceptance criteria:

·  ES_0_5391_2 Issue 02 Fabrication of Stainless-Steel Plant and Equipment (Sellafield)
·  PD5500:2021+A2:2022 Category 1 Specification for unfired pressure vessels

The welding system can perform full penetration and partial penetration butt welds as well as fillet welds. When performing full penetration welds TANICS™ uses a unique purge system to ensure the internal atmosphere of the container is sufficiently inert to prevent oxidation of the weld root.

inspection

On completion of the remote welding, the inspection system scans the weld for surface defects. This is crucial to the ability of the container to resist corrosion throughout the storage period.

Container Design

The team at TANICS™ has a proven capability in designing containers for nuclear applications. This design capability draws on the team’s manufacturing knowledge to ensure container designs not only meet all safety case requirements but also include features to aid manufacture using standard industrial materials whenever possible.

manufacturing

The TANICS™ team has a proven capability in manufacturing for the nuclear industry in a specialist non-ferrous facility dedicated to the art of fabricating and welding stainless steel and nickel alloys.
The team regularly manufacture containers and vessels in accordance with the Sellafield stainless steel fabrication specification (ES_0_5391_2) as well as PD5500, using a variety of mechanised and manual processes.

Security

When operating on nuclear sites security is critical, TANICS™ incorporates a number of security features to ensure that the data held on the system is secure at all times.

Nuclear Pedigree

TANICS™ has been designed and developed by nuclear engineering professionals with a proven track record in both the UK and abroad. This experience influenced the drive to develop a system which would be capable of achieving the most demanding acceptance criteria in the industry.

The team behind TANICS™ has experience of high-quality stainless steel component manufacturing, nuclear site container welding operations as well as welding and handling equipment design and development expertise.

With this experience comes critical nuclear behaviours such as a questioning attitude, transparency, attention to detail, nuclear safety culture as well as a desire for continuous improvement. These behaviours support the four Cs:

  • Criticality
  • Control the power
  • Cool the fuel
  • Contain radioactivity

“This an exciting development where a high integrity welding process can be deployed remotely and adapted to suit a variety of container sealing activities and could almost be classed as off the shelf”

David Campbell – Technical Manager / Chief Welding Engineer
Inspection & Certification Group
EHS&Q

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