As USNC plugs away at the development of its MMR systems and FCM fuel form ready for future implementation, the company anticipates investing in more ExOne binder jet systems. It currently runs both the X160Pro machine, which is used for the printing of large non-fuel structures and the X25Pro for making the structures that the fuel is integrated into. USNC also has an Advanced Technology Division focused on space and propulsion applications which also leans on the in-house 3D printing capacity. Some machines are running silicon carbide, and others are running zirconium carbide, with the same chemical vapour infiltration process occurring post-print.
“With these machines, we are doing nuclear quality work,” Terrani says. “Once it goes with a certain kind of powder, forever thou shalt not be changed. We’re not going to switch even though the systems are designed that way. [With] the nuclear quality rigor that’s imposed on us, we need to keep the systems very clean and dedicated to a very specific process. That’s why we have multiple systems; for different components and also different ceramic carbides that lend themselves to our different designs.”
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