The Korea Institute of Materials Science, a government-funded research institute under the Ministry of Science and ICT, joined hands with Konasol (CEO Yun-geun Kang), a specialized metal composite material company, to commercialize the transport/storage container materials for spent nuclear fuel. KIMS signed a technology commercialization agreement with Konasol at the opening ceremony of the KIMS TECHFAIR 2022 held at the Changwon Exhibition and Convention Center on Wednesday, September 21, and committed to promoting technology transfer and future technical cooperation of B4C-Al composite material stir casting process.

As the temporary storage of spent nuclear fuel in Korea is expected to become saturated from 2028 with the Kori nuclear power plant, the dual-purpose cask (DPC) that can transport and store spent nuclear fuel is currently being developed. The whole quantity of neutron absorber material used for the container is imported from overseas material companies in the US and Japan, so it is important to localize the aluminum composite material technology for absorbing a neutron and to develop the original technology that can secure the efficiency and safety of transport/storage.

Based on self-developed equipment and process analysis, KIMS succeeded in manufacturing low-cost casting-based neutron-absorbing aluminum composite plates up to 2m in length. Konasol plans to establish mass production facilities and to produce 5m long aluminum composite plates.

Jung-hwan Lee, the President of KIMS, said, “It is meaningful that metal composite materials that are cheaper and have superior properties than conventional powder metallurgy were manufactured through metal composite material stir casting process. KIMS will spare no effort to localize the import-dependent core materials that can safely store and transport spent nuclear fuel, a high-level radioactive waste.”