The Plutonium Air Transportable Package, Model PAT-1, is certified under Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) per Certificate of Compliance (CoC) USA/0361B(U)F-96 (currently Revision 9). The purpose of this SAR Addendum is to incorporate plutonium (Pu) metal as a new payload for the PAT-1 package. The Pu metal is packed in an inner container (designated the T-Ampoule) that replaces the PC-1 inner container. The documentation and results from analysis contained in this addendum demonstrate that the replacement of the PC-1 and associated packaging material with the T-Ampoule and associated packaging with the addition of the plutonium metal content are not significant with respect to the design, operating characteristics, or safe performance of the containment system and prevention of criticality when the package is subjected to the tests specified in 10 CFR 71.71, 71.73 and 71.74.
The Plutonium Air Transportable Package, Model PAT-1, is certified under Title 10, Code of Federal Regulations Part 71 by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) per Certificate of Compliance (CoC) USA/0361B(U)F-96 (currently Revision 9). The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) submitted SAND Report SAND2009-5822 to NRC that documented the incorporation of plutonium (Pu) metal as a new payload for the PAT-1 package. NRC responded with a Request for Additional Information (RAI), identifying information needed in connection with its review of the application. The purpose of this SAND report is to provide the authors responses to each RAI. SAND Report SAND2010-6106 containing the proposed changes to the Addendum is provided separately.
The outline of this presentation is: (1) Applications of Kovar Alloy in metal/ceramic brazing; (2) Diffusion bonding of precision-photoetched Kovar parts; (3) Sample composition and annealing conditions; (4) Intermediate temperature creep properties (350-650 C); (5) Power law creep correlations--with and without modulus correction; (6) Compressive stress-strain properties (23-900 C); (7) Effect of creep deformation on grain growth; and (8) Application of the power law creep correlation to the diffusion bonding application. The summary and conclusions are: Elevated temperature creep properties of Kovar from 750-900 C obey a power law creep equation with a stress exponent equal to 4.9, modulus compensated activation energy of 47.96 kcal/mole. Grain growth in Kovar creep samples tested at 750 and 800 C is quite sluggish. Significant grain growth occurs at 850 C and above, this is consistent with isothermal grain growth studies performed on Kovar alloy wires. Finite element analysis of the diffusion bonding of Kovar predict that stresses of 30 MPa and higher are needed for good bonding at 850 C, we believe that 'sintering' effects must be accounted for to allow FEA to be predictive of actual processing conditions. Additional creep tests are planned at 250-650 C.
The elevated temperature creep properties of the 50Au-50Cu wt% and 47Au-50Cu-3Ni braze alloys have been evaluated over the temperature range 250-850 C. At elevated temperatures, i.e., 450-850 C, both alloys were tested in the annealed condition (2 hrs. 750 C/water quenched). The minimum strain rate properties over this temperature range are well fit by the Garofalo sinh equation. At lower temperatures (250 and 350 C), power law equations were found to characterize the data for both alloys. For samples held long periods of time at 375 C (96 hrs.) and slowly cooled to room temperature, an ordering reaction was observed. For the case of the 50Au-50Cu braze alloy, the stress necessary to reach the same, strain rate increased by about 15% above the baseline data. The limited data for ordered 47Au-50Cu-3Ni alloy reflected a,smaller strength increase. However, the sluggishness of this ordering reaction in both alloys does not appear to pose a problem for braze joints cooled at reasonable rates following brazing.