Large scale 3d Printing possibilities, page-4

Casting of reactor components—. A mention in yesterdays2025 Invstor presentation hthttps://hotcopper.com.au/posts/79560606/singletps://hotcopper.com.au/posts/79560606/single " Pursue growth into nuclear with Department of Energy"

The cost of reactor pressure vessel or steam generators—that is a subset of the total cost. These forged components are typically produced by specialized heavy industry firms (e.g., Japan Steel Works or Doosan) and can cost hundreds of millions of dollars per unit, but exact figures are rarely disclosed publicly due to commercial sensitivity.

AI on this for cost and time.

Reactor Pressure Vessel (RPV)

• Cost: A single RPV can cost between USD 100–300 million, depending on material grade, design complexity, and vendor. The forging alone—typically done by Japan Steel Works (JSW), Doosan, or OMZ Izhora—accounts for a large portion of this.

• Time: Forging and machining an RPV typically takes 18–24 months from order to delivery. Only a few global facilities have the 15,000-tonne press capacity needed to handle the 350–600 tonne steel ingots required for AP1000-class vessels.

Steam Generators

• Cost: Each steam generator (AP1000 uses two per unit) can cost USD 50–100 million. These are complex heat exchangers with thousands of U-tubes, requiring precision welding and high-integrity materials like Inconel.

• Time: Fabrication takes 12–18 months, often overlapping with RPV production. The bottleneck is usually in tube sheet forging and tube bundle assembly

The issues:

Challenges for Full-Scale Nuclear Components

1. Size & Mass: An AP1000 RPV weighs over 500 tonnes and requires ultra-large forgings. AML3D’s current WAM® systems aren’t yet scaled for that.

2. Regulatory Certification: Nuclear-grade RPVs and steam generators must meet ASME Section III standards and pass exhaustive non-destructive testing. No 3D-printed RPV has yet been certified for commercial nuclear use.

3. Material Integrity: While WAM® can produce high-integrity welds, long-term creep, fatigue, and irradiation resistance data are still under development for nuclear licensing.

Happily we are starting on the SMR side and have "Pete Goumas President & CEO of AML3D USA Inc" with 38 years of industry experience leading technical and manufacturing organisations in the fields of government and civil nuclear power, power generation and technology development.