MAINSTREAM ENGINEERING CORP — Department of Energy SBIR Phase I: 13a

Description

As the United States aging fleet of nuclear reactors approach the end other their lifetimes, a new generation of nuclear reactors (Generation IV) are being developed to ensure national energy security without emissions or pollutants as a byproduct- However, there are many technological hurdles associated with the extreme corrosive environments required by many of the reactor designs- This presents a unique materials challenge of developing structural materials capable of withstanding these harsh corrosive and high temperature environments- Mainstream Engineering Corp- will develop a cladding process to add a corrosion-resistant layer to structural nuclear components- Specifically, this process will enable cladding of complex geometries unlike any other cladding process currently available- The versatile process also enables bonding of many different dissimilar metal systems- Mainstream will partner with commercial nuclear companies to bring this technology to market-