UCD McClellan Nuclear Radiation Center

Spent nuclear fuel contains fissionable materials (235U, 239Pu, 241Pu, etc.). To prevent nuclear criticality in spent fuel storage, transportation, and during disposal, neutron-absorbing materials (or neutron poisons, such as borated stainless steel, BoralTM, MetamicTM, Ni-Gd, and others) would have to be applied. The success in demonstrating that the High-Performance Corrosion- Resistant Material (HPCRM)1 can be thermally applied as coating onto base metal to provide for corrosion resistance for many naval applications raises the interest in applying the HPCRM to USDOE/OCRWM spent fuel management program. The fact that the HPCRM relies on the high content of boron to make the material amorphous – an essential property for corrosion resistance – and that the boron has to be homogenously distributed in the HPCRM qualify the material to be a neutron poison.