Closure Weld Development for 3013 Outer Containers

摘要

Excess plutonium materials in the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Complex are packaged and stored in accordance with DOE-STD-3013. This standard specifies requirements for the stabilization of such materials and subsequent packaging in dual nested seal-welded containers. Austenitic stainless steels have been selected for container fabrication. The inner 3013 container provides contamination control while the outer 3013 container is the primary containment vessel and is the focus of this paper. Each packaging site chose a process for seal welding the outer 3013 containers in accordance with its needs and expertise. The two processes chosen for weld closure were laser beam welding (LBW) and gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW). Following development efforts, each system was qualified in accordance with DOE-STD-3013 prior to production use.rnThe 3013 outer container closure weld joint was designed to accommodate the characteristics of a laser weld. This aspect of the joint design necessitated some innovative process and equipment considerations in the application of the GTAW process. Details of the weld requirements and the development processes are presented and several potential enhancements for the GTAW system are described.