Quote:
Originally Posted by RWebb
the bolts are there to hold the lid on... what??
the box in photo #1 does not seem to be a waste cask
does the thing ever have to be opened back up?
i.e. why use bolts at all....
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This is not a waste cask - we are bolting a "target module" onto a carriage so that it can be inserted into a core vessel for proton irradiation/neutron production. That bolted interface contains the bulk flow mercury seal.
Once the target module is "spent" due to radiation-induced material degradation (or from a unique phenomenon where we've seen damage due to mercury cavitation), we have to replace the module. Replacement takes about 100 hours. We ship spent target modules for disposal, but that's easy.