Along with partners KSB and Kinectrics we are pleased to announce the release of the “Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap for the Canadian Nuclear Industry.”
The “AM Roadmap” benefited from review and inputs from many groups who are acknowledged at the front of the Roadmap.
The authors of the Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap recognized that other industries, aerospace in particular, have achieved performance and cost savings through application of additive manufacturing of complex components. There is an example from the nuclear industry in Europe where a failed pump impellor as been digitized, “printed”, and installed to return a pump to service within 48 hours (see Appendix B in the Roadmap). In addition the nuclear industry is moving cautiously to adopt AM in special circumstances – PWR fuel assembly for example.
This AM Roadmap is intended to brief Canadian nuclear industry stakeholders on the advantages of additive manufacturing and how it can be methodically adopted to help sustain the Canadian CANDU fleet until 2065 and beyond and to enable Canada to be a leader in SMR development and deployment through potential cost savings on the manufacture of specific SMR components.
The Advanced Manufacturing Roadmap also provides a comprehensive overview of the current status of Advanced Manufacturing development and application in the nuclear industry, outlines next steps to the end of 2021 and 2022, and sets out a ten year vision and beyond. The Roadmap lays out a high-level plan on how to develop advanced manufacturing capacity in the nuclear supply chain and highlights some of the ongoing projects in the nuclear advanced manufacturing space.
Our first task in early 2022 is to form an Advanced Manufacturing in Nuclear Alliance of nuclear suppliers, nuclear utilities, SMR developers, research organizations and universities that will convene on a regular basis to share experience, discuss manufacturing challenges, review R&D programs, seek collaboration opportunities, and discuss how to encourage faster adoption of Advanced Manufacturing technologies in the Canadian nuclear industry.
Please share the AM Roadmap within your organizations, Please contact the undersigned for more information.