Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Charles W Mallory

Arthur W Lilley

Ralph E Watts

Steven J Winston

Billy C Stricklin

John E Razor

Harold L Newhouse

William S Sanner, Jr

Joseph B Paladino

David J Wozniak

George V Hall

Charles T Nentwig

Ralph R Disibio

An improved cask assembly for forming a cask that is adapted to transport radioactive materials of a particular activity is disclosed herein. The cask assembly comprises an outer container having an opening leading to its interior, and a plurality of inner shield inserts, each of which includes an inner wall whose shape is substantially complementary to the shape of the interior of the outer container and which is insertable therein to form a cask. The exterior walls of the inner shield inserts are formed from different shielding compositions, such as depleted uranium or lead, and are also of different thicknesses. The particular shield inserted within the interior of the outer container is chosen to match the intensity and type of radiation emitted by the waste to be transported so that the assembled cask hold a maximum amount of the particular material to be transported without exceeding a surface radiation of 200 millirems at any point. To facilitate the insertion and removal of the shield inserts, the closure opening is at least as wide as the width of its interior. Either a screw-type closure means of a breech-lock closure means is used to seal the container opening.

Cask assembly for transporting radioactive material of different

An improved closure for covering and sealing a radioactive waste cask of the type having an opening circumscribed by a ledge is disclosed herein. The closure generally comprises an inner lid having an outer edge circumscribed by a gasket which is seatable over the ledge which circumscribes the opening, and an outer lid which is securable around the cask opening by either a screw-type or a breech-lock mechanism. In either case, the outer lid may be rotated into locking engagement with the container without imparting rotational forces to the gasket of the inner lid, thereby protecting the gasket from unnecessary rubbing forces. If the breech-lock mechanism is used, inner and outer lids may be rotatably connected to one another by a minimum of three suspension pin assemblies equidistantly spaced around the edges of both. The rotatable connection afforded by these suspension pin assemblies unitizes the closure while advantageously allowing the gasket of the inner lid to remain stationary while the outer lid is secured to the cask opening. To secure the gasket of the inner lid against the ledge of the cask opening, the outer lid is provided with a plurality of jack bolts engaged in threaded bores which extend completely through the outer lid. After the closure is secured over the cask opening, these jack bolts may be screwed through the outer lid into engagement against the inner lid, thereby forcing the inner lid gasket into sealing engagement with the ledge of the cask opening.

Closure for casks containing radioactive materials

A thermal protection shell for protecting the exterior walls of a radioactive waste container disclosed herein. The shell generally comprises a wall of heat conductive material, such as aluminum or magnesium, which circumscribes and engages the exterior of the waste container walls in intimate, heat-conducting contact under ambient temperature conditions. The thermal coefficient of expansion of the material forming the shell is chosen to be greater than the thermal coefficient of expansion of the material forming the container walls, which are typically steel, so that the heat-conducting contact between the shell and the outer walls is broken when the shell is exposed to a fire. The shell is formed in sections which are rigidly interconnectable by bolt assemblies formed from the same material as the shell itself. The use of such sections allows the shell to be easily mounted over existing radioactive waste containers, and adjusted to fit containers of different diameters.

Thermal protection shell for radioactive waste containers

An improved tie-down assembly for connecting a transportation cask containing radioactive wastes to the trailer of a tractor-trailer as disclosed herein. Each of the lugs is characterized by a flat profile and is formed from steel which is less ductile than the steel forming the walls of the cask, yet having an ultimate stress which is higher than the ultimate stress of the steel forming the cask walls. Additionally, each of the lugs includes a reinforcing plate having substantially the same shape as the contour of the cask walls, as well as an elongated, flat lug member that terminates in an eyelet for attaching the lug member to a tensioned cable. The lower ductility of the lugs, coupled with the extremely flat profile made possible by the higher ultimate stress of the material that forms them, minimizes the moment forces that the tensioned cables apply to the cask walls, and minimizes the chance that the lugs will apply a rupturing or breaking force onto the cask walls in the event of a severe accident. Each of the lug members is colinearly aligned with its respective tensioned cable, and each cable is attached to the support beams of the vehicle. The lugs are welded around the circumference of the cask at the same height at 50 degree angles with respect to the longitudinal center line of the trailer, and the cables are arranged in front and rear x-shaped configurations that intersect the longitudinal center line of the trailer at 40 degree angles. The 'mechanical fuse' property of the lugs in combination with such cable geometry results in a safer and stronger tie-down assembly.

Tie-down assembly for securing a cask containing radioactive waste to a

A ground-disposable module for encapsulating radioactive waste contained within shipping containers is disclosed herein. Generally, the modules comprise a rigid outer container for providing a first radiation and water barrier for the waste, an inner container formed from the shipping container for providing a second radiation and water barrier, and a central layer of grout which forms still another radiation and water barrier and which provides the rigid outer container with a substantially solid interior which reinforces the compressive strength of the module. The rigid outer container may hold a plurality of shipping containers which have been compacted. Such compaction maximizes the number of containers which may be encapsulated into a particular module, and increases the overall compressive strength of the module by increasing the integrity and strength of the shipping containers and wastes grouted therein. In order to facilitate handling, the outer containers of the modules includes a pattern of grooves at its bottom portion for receiving the forks of a forklift, and a plurality of I-bolt anchors at its top portion which are detachably connectable to the hooks of a hoist. In the preferred embodiment, the outer containers of the modules are hexagonally shaped, right-angled prisms. The hexagonal prism shape of the outer container of the module allows the modules to form subsidence-free, solid arrays which have sufficient compressive strength to support an earthen-type trench cover, yet are flexibly conformable to changes in the shape of the trench which might occur from a seismic disturbance.

Nuclear waste packing module

A method and apparatus are disclosed for increasing the concentratin of suspended particles within a slurry by removal of the fluid. The slurry is passed along the surface of a porous material such as porous plastic pipe having pores of a diameter greater than that of the suspended particles. The slurry flows at a velocity parallel to the surface of the porous plastic pipe that is much greater than the lateral velocity of the fluid through the pores in the pipe. The suspended solids with diameters smaller than the diameter of the pore opening are retained and concentrated within the flowing slurry because of the high flow velocity tangential to the pores.

Filtration system

An impact skirt 16 for a radioactive waste material cask 10, each impact skirt fitting over the end of the cask and having portions 18 and 20 lapping the cask axially and radially, each skirt comprising a one piece, monolithic, member of a solid, soft, light metal material such as aluminum.

Solid, soft, light metal impact skirts for radioactive waste and other

A land disposal site for the disposal of nuclear waste is disclosed which generally comprises a trench, a non-rigid, water-shedding cap formed from alluvium and silt which overlies this depression, and a solid array of waste-containing modules disposed in the trench for both encapsulating the waste and for supporting the non-rigid cap over the depression. The floor of the trench preferably includes a capillary barrier formed from a layer of gravel so that ground water will not seep up into the modules buried within the disposal site. The top surfaces of the modules are covered with a sloped layer of alluvium, which in turn is covered with another capillary barrier of gravel. This capillary barrier of gravel carries a sloped layer of silt which sheds running surface water and directs it into a pair of drains disposed on either side of the trench. The silt layer is capped with a final layer of graded rip-rap which protects it from wind and water erosion, and which forms a natural radiation and intrusion barrier. Finally, the modules disposed within the disposal site are preferably uniformly shaped, hexagonal prisms which are capable of being solidly packed into a structure which is flexibly conformable with any changes in shape of the trench brought about by seismic or other natural disturbances.

Nuclear waste disposal site

Disclosed is a container assembly for the storage and disposal of material containing low-level nuclear wastes particularly suited for remote handling. A waste container has lifting lugs onto which a reusable grapple beam, made of rectangular tubing joined to form a polygon, is placed and attached to the lifting lugs by hooks. Screw jacks are used to tension the assembly and prevent inadvertent unlatching. The container is filled through the interior of the polygon into an opening in the container. The container may be filled, capped, handled, and the grapple beam removed by remote operations.

Grapple and lift beams for high integrity containers for radioactive

A nuclear waste packaging facility for receiving both contact and remote handled nuclear waste in portable shipping containers and encapsulating this waste into ground-disposable modules is disclosed herein. The facility generally comprises a separately shielded section for processing remote handled waste including various remotely-controlled winches and conveyors, as well as a second, separately shielded section for processing contact handled waste. A module transportation and loading section is disposed between the remote and contact handled waste sections of the facility, and places empty module containers in a loading position adjacent each of the two, separately shielded sections of the facility. Both the contact and remote handled waste sections include radiation and ultrasonic detectors for determining the radioactive level of the waste, and whether or not any of this waste is in liquid form. The outputs of these detectors are connected to a central computer, which generates a signal indicating how much of the contact or non-contact handled waste may be loaded into a particular module container before the surface radiation of the completed module will exceed a certain, preselected limit. Additionally, the computer actuates an alarm circuit when either of the ultrasonic detectors generates a signal indicating that any of the waste is in liquid form. Finally, a common grouting station having an extendable trough may be used to grout modules loaded from either the contact or remote handled waste sections of the facility. The facility is preferably close to a land burial site to minimize the distance the completed modules must be transported before they are permanently buried.

Nuclear waste packaging facility

Disclosed is a closure mechanism for sealing a nuclear waste disposal container. The mechanism allows partial closure of the container after internal apparatus have been inserted leaving a smaller opening for inserting and processing the waste material. Partial closure is achieved by inserting into the container an annular inner ring that fits against the container and by tightening an annular outer cap onto the inner ring, permitting access to the container through the aligned openings. After the waste material is loaded and processed, a sealing disk, axially joined to an inner plug to permit rotational but not linear movement, is passed through the outer cap opening and seats around the inner ring opening. The inner plug is tightened against the sealing disk by engaging matching threads on the inside of the outer cap opening.

Growing community of inventors

Severna Park, MD, United States of America

Charles W Mallory