Advancement of Castings in the Nuclear Supply Chain

Completed

Nuclear Fission and Fusion(Nuclear Fission, Other nuclear fission)

Applied Research and Development

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Metallurgy and Materials)

Not Cross-cutting

Dr E Palmiere
Engineering Materials
University of Sheffield

Standard

EPSRC

01 July 2013

30 June 2015

24 months

£179,963

Energy

Yorkshire & Humberside

Energy : Energy

Dr E Palmiere, Engineering Materials, University of Sheffield

Dr BP Wynne, Engineering Materials, University of Sheffield

Sheffield Forgemasters International Ltd (SFIL) is a World leader in the production of cast recirculation pump casings(RPC) for nuclear power stations, and this application is closely aligned with the 'Materials and Modelling' and 'AdvancedManufacturing & Construction' technical themes. SFIL wants to enter the Eastern European market for civil nuclear powerstation components by offering a cast solution for the RPC to replace the current forged design. Successful qualification ofa cast design could result in orders of up to 12 castings per year and would establish a presence in the Eastern Europeansupply chain. The steel grades specified are new to the company, and a cast design for the RPC in these reactors is amajor technical challenge due to the large section sizes and current unknowns regarding the physical metallurgy of thecandidate alloys specified. There are questions concerning the castability of the candidate alloys, the optimum castingmethods that should be employed, the mechanical properties that can be achieved, welding procedures and the limits ondetectability of the non-destructive testing (NDT) techniques. A collaborative R&D project with The Welding Institute (TWI)and The University of Sheffield is proposed that will address these issues and deliver a proven cast RPC solution for this new market

22/07/13