Reduced Pressure Electron Beam Welding Evaluation Activities on a Ni-Cr-Mo Alloy for Nuclear Waste Packages

The current waste package design for the proposed repository at Yucca Mountain Nevada, USA, employs gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) in fabricating the waste packages. While GTAW is widely used in industry for many applications, it requires multiple weld passes. By comparison, single-pass welding methods inherently use lower heat input than multi-pass welding methods which results in lower levels of weld distortion and also narrower regions of residual stresses at the weld TWI Ltd. has developed a Reduced Pressure Electron Beam (RPEB) welding process which allows EB welding in a reduced pressure environment ((le) 1 mbar). As it is a single-pass welding technique, use of RPEB welding could (1) achieve a comparable or better materials performance and (2) lead to potential cost savings in the waste package manufacturing as compared to GTAW. Results will be presented on the initial evaluation of the RPEB welding on a Ni-Cr-Mo alloy (a candidate alloy for the Yucca Mountain waste packages) in the areas of (a) design and manufacturing simplifications, (b) material performance and (c) weld reliability