Possible Ferritic Steel Structure Fabrication Development Paths

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Possible Ferritic Steel Structure Fabrication
Development Paths

• Seek a formal US/EU collaborative program to
  develop the ferritic steel structure for TBM. US
  contributes in key areas such as joint testing
  and evaluation techniques, generation of
  qualified materials data, development of NDE
  techniques and procedures, formulation of
  appropriate design rules and acceptance criteria,
  pursue alternate FW designs for improved heat
  transfer (relaxed He flow channel tolerances),
  development of specific fabrication routes not
  presently under investigation (e.g., investment
  casting for mock-ups).
• Independently develop the fabrication technology
  for the ferritic steel structure (including
  exploration of alternative FW designs). This is
  a challenging option given the 3M invested so
  far by the EU in fabrication technology
  development and the relatively short time
  available to accomplish the task. It is not
  clear the EU will be able to meet their schedule
  given the current state of fabrication technology
  and the level of design analysis and testing
  performed so far. This approach would likely not
  give the US access to expensive test facilities
  for conducting mockup experiments.