DEVELOPMENT OF BASKET WITH ENRICHED BORATED ALUMINUM ALLOY

Kobe Steel, Ltd. has been producing enriched boron-10 from the spring of 2001, and the unique manufacturing process of borated aluminum alloy was developed. In this process, aluminum alloy is melted and agitated using a vacuum induction furnace with higher temperature than that of common aluminum alloy fabrication method, and is cast into mold in vacuum atmosphere. Accordingly, it is possible to manufacture the high quality aluminum alloy which has the uniform distribution of boron and do not include impurity such as oxidizing slag etc. There are two types of basket designs using borated aluminum alloy, one is using plates, which is already applied to our storage packages, and the other is using extruded rectangular pipes. The production technique of the latter type of basket was established this time. The good thermal conductivity at the assembly of each pipe is confirmed by performing the thermal test and the analysis of it. The basket using extruded rectangular pipes is easy to assemble staggeringly and bound around them by supporting parts, therefore, fewer machining is necessary for it compared with the basket using plates. Accordingly, it can reduce the production cost of a basket.