Spray casting project final report

Lockheed Martin Energy Systems, Inc. (Energy Systems), along with other participating organizations, has been exploring the feasibility of spray casting depleted uranium (DU) to near-net shape as a waste minimization effort. Although this technology would be useful in a variety of applications where DU was the material of choice, this effort was aimed primarily at gamma-shielding components for use in storage and transportation canisters for high-level radioactive waste, particularly in the Multipurpose Canister (MPC) application. In addition to the waste-minimization benefits, spray casting would simplify the manufacturing process by allowing the shielding components for MPC to be produced as a single component, as opposed to multiple components with many fabrication and assembly steps. In earlier experiments, surrogate materials were used to simulate the properties (specifically reactivity and density) of DU. Based on the positive results from those studies, the project participants decided that further evaluation of the issues and concerns that would accompany spraying DU was warranted. That evaluation occupied substantially all of Fiscal Year 1995, yielding conceptual designs for both an intermediate facility and a production facility and their associated engineering estimates. An intermediate facility was included in this study to allow further technology development in spraying DU. Although spraying DU to near-net shape seems to be feasible, a number of technical, engineering, and safety issues would need to be evaluated before proceeding with a production facility. This report is intended to document the results from the spray-casting project and to provide information needed by anyone interested in proceeding to the next step