Application of Neutron-Absorbing Structural-Amorphous Metal (SAM) Coatings for Spent Nuclear Fuel (SNF) Container to Enhance Criticality Safety Controls

Spent nuclear fuel contains fissionable materials (235U, 239Pu, 241Pu, etc.). Neutron multiplication and the potential for criticality are enhanced by the presence of a moderator during cask loading in water, water incursion in accidents conditions during spent fuel storage or transport. To prevent nuclear criticality in spent fuel storage, transportation, and during disposal, neutron-absorbing materials (or neutron poisons, such as borated stainless steel, Boral(trademark), Metamic(trademark), Ni-Gd, and others) would have to be applied. The success in demonstrating that the High-Performance Corrosion-Resistant material (HPCRM) can be thermally applied as coating onto base metal to provide for corrosion resistance for many naval applications raises the interest in applying the HPCRM to USDOE/OCRWM spent fuel management program. The fact that the HPCRM relies on the high content of boron to make the material amorphous--an essential property for corrosion resistance--and that the boron has to be homogeneously distributed in the HPCRM qualify the material to be a neutron poison