Retirement Vessel for Radioactive Payload

Customers with large-scale requirements rely on us at Trade Tech, Inc. to provide the highest quality machining and fabrication within tight deadlines. In the project illustrated below, a customer in the nuclear power industry needed sizable custom-manufactured containers for retiring radioactive equipment. Because of our previous work in large-scale fabrication, we came highly recommended to this client, and we were pleased to accept the contract. This project was especially challenging for a number of reasons; for one, the size and scope of these containers were enormous. Each vessel weighed 75,000 lbs. and required heavy duty lifting, part handling, multi-pass welding, and heavy plate fabrication. The company also had a short schedule, requiring quick logistical response and aggressive scheduling to complete on time. Finally, the initial designs for these containers were incomplete at the time of order, and required our engineers to improve and complete manufacturing aspects of the design concept before fabrication could begin.

After we accepted this order, our engineering department cooperatively resolved all outstanding performance requirements with the customer in the initial design of these containers. This was accomplished while the fully documented 2″ A572 Grade 50 Plate was being procured. A full range of our equipment was employed to fabricate these vessels, including our Miller wire welders, 25-ton cranes, CNC horizontal boring bar, CNC horizontal lathes, semi-automatic flame cutting and beveling, custom fabrication and inspection templates, fixtures, and gauges. We constructed numerous fabricated and machined parts on-site to meet our deadline. We also performed preheating, welding out of position, load testing, prepping, and painting these containers in place. The completed vessels measured 10′ x 20′ x 10′ and were constructed with tightest tolerances of ±1/8″. Each container was finished with epoxy over primer and subjected to rigorous testing and inspection; all products underwent visual inspection, magnetic particle inspection, lift testing with payload, and non-destructive testing to AWS D1.1 codes. We also ensured that each container met our customers Nuclear Quality standards.

We completed the first group of these containers within a six week timeframe, including everything from design completion to fabrication and delivery. Our customer was impressed with our flexibility, aggressive scheduling, and high quality work. They are now one of our regular customers, consulting us at the earlier stages of their quoting submission process and partnering with us on a number of additional projects.

For more information about this or any of our other large-scale, heavy duty projects, please see the details below or contact us directly.