Sweden will store nuclear spent fuel in long term geological repositories, inserted into copper canisters, buried into the bedrock. All canisters, once filled, will be closed with a copper lid, then welded by Stir Friction. Once done, there is no way to recognize one canister from the other, they are all identical from the outside and external marking is not foreseen to avoid future corrosion issues. Nevertheless, Continuity of Knowledge (CoK) of canisters from the Encapsulation Plant to the Geological Repository has to be guaranteed. It would be interesting as well to keep this CoK when canisters are buried in case of re- verification needs. The Seals & Identification Laboratory has a long history related to the development of ultrasonic bolt seals used for underwater and dry storage applications. The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority requested JRC assistance for a feasibility study on the identification of those copper canisters mid 2015. In this paper, we will describe the preliminary results and in particular an innovative, cheap and reliable identification technique, using cavities or chamfers milled on the internal surface of the lid and red externally by ultrasonic transducers when the canister is full and welded. Those cavities will represent a different identification code for each canister, without any external labeling. But even with an internal marking, it remains the possibility to create twin canisters by duplicating the identification code of an existing lid. We describe in the paper the way to uniquely authenticate the canisters by the ultrasonic reading of the internal gap existing between the lid and the canister, which is partially and randomly filled by the flow of melted copper during the stir friction welding operation. This reading could give a unique signature, which when matched angularly with the identification cavities drilled on the 360° circumference of the lid, would provide a very robust, non reproducible, authentication method. The paper will describe the concept, the preliminary measurements, the identification reading prototype successfully tested on a reduced scale lid and the future steps towards the final ultrasonic system.

Ultrasonic Identification and Authentication of Copper Canisters / Francois Littmann , Chiara Clementi, Lorenzo Capineri , Ulf Ronneteg. - ELETTRONICO. - (2017), pp. 1-10. (Intervento presentato al convegno INMM 59th Annual Meeting tenutosi a Indian Wells, California USA nel July 16-20 2017).

Ultrasonic Identification and Authentication of Copper Canisters

Chiara Clementi
Investigation
;
Lorenzo Capineri
Supervision
;
2017

Abstract

Sweden will store nuclear spent fuel in long term geological repositories, inserted into copper canisters, buried into the bedrock. All canisters, once filled, will be closed with a copper lid, then welded by Stir Friction. Once done, there is no way to recognize one canister from the other, they are all identical from the outside and external marking is not foreseen to avoid future corrosion issues. Nevertheless, Continuity of Knowledge (CoK) of canisters from the Encapsulation Plant to the Geological Repository has to be guaranteed. It would be interesting as well to keep this CoK when canisters are buried in case of re- verification needs. The Seals & Identification Laboratory has a long history related to the development of ultrasonic bolt seals used for underwater and dry storage applications. The Swedish Radiation Safety Authority requested JRC assistance for a feasibility study on the identification of those copper canisters mid 2015. In this paper, we will describe the preliminary results and in particular an innovative, cheap and reliable identification technique, using cavities or chamfers milled on the internal surface of the lid and red externally by ultrasonic transducers when the canister is full and welded. Those cavities will represent a different identification code for each canister, without any external labeling. But even with an internal marking, it remains the possibility to create twin canisters by duplicating the identification code of an existing lid. We describe in the paper the way to uniquely authenticate the canisters by the ultrasonic reading of the internal gap existing between the lid and the canister, which is partially and randomly filled by the flow of melted copper during the stir friction welding operation. This reading could give a unique signature, which when matched angularly with the identification cavities drilled on the 360° circumference of the lid, would provide a very robust, non reproducible, authentication method. The paper will describe the concept, the preliminary measurements, the identification reading prototype successfully tested on a reduced scale lid and the future steps towards the final ultrasonic system.
2017
Proceedings of INMM 58th Annual Meeting
INMM 59th Annual Meeting
Indian Wells, California USA
July 16-20 2017
Francois Littmann , Chiara Clementi, Lorenzo Capineri , Ulf Ronneteg
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Utilizza questo identificatore per citare o creare un link a questa risorsa: https://hdl.handle.net/2158/1131841
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