316L austenitic stainless steels are widely known for their corrosion resistance however they have been known to fail under specific conditions via stress corrosion cracking. High residual stresses from manufacturing processes (such as welding) within a component increases susceptibilty to stress corrosion cracking. In the UK, dry storage canisters are made out of 316L stainless steel for temporary storage of used nuclear fuel (50-100 years) and these canisters are manufactured with multiple welding processes. These welds are untreated and are likely to have considerable residual stresses associated with them. The proposed experiment would look at the residual stress distribution across the axial weld of a 316L dry store canister sample provided by EDF, looking at the differences in residual stresses in the base canister material, the heat affected zone of the weld and the weld itself.