Development of High-Strength Aluminum Alloys for Basket in Transport and Storage Cask for High Burn-up Spent Fuel

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has developed high-strength borated aluminum alloys (high-strength B-Al alloys), suitable for application to baskets in transport and storage casks for high burn-up spent fuels. Aluminum is a suitable base material for the baskets due to its low density and high thermal conductivity. The aluminum basket would reduce weight of the cask, and effectively release heat generated by spent fuels. MHI had already developed borated aluminum alloys (high-toughness B-Al alloy) [1], and registered them as ASME Code Case “N-673”. However, there has been a strong demand for basket materials with higher strength in the case of MSF (Mitsubishi Spent Fuel) casks for high-burn up spent fuels, since the basket is required to stand up to higher stress at higher temperature. The high-strength basket material enables the design of a compact cask under a limitation of total size and weight. MHI has developed novel high-strength B-Al alloys which meet these requirements, based on a new manufacturing process. The outline of mechanical and metallurgical characteristics of the high-strength B-Al alloys is described in this paper