Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Harry E Flanders, Jr

Octavio J Machado

William M Flynn

David A Daugherty

Nicholas J Georges

Larry W Booker

Spent fuel racks for housing new or spent fuel assemblies at a nuclear reactor site. The racks are made to modular design and include upper and lower grid structures which provide aligned square openings. A container or cell shaped to the size of a fuel assembly fits in each of the aligned square openings. To provide verticality to the aligned and uniformly spaced cells, leveling pads beneath the base plate supporting the cells are adjustable vertically to cause the base plate to assume a horizontal plane and thereby align cell longitudinal axis with a vertical plane.

Nuclear reactor spent fuel storage rack

A spent fuel storage cask for long-term storage of spent nuclear fuel following short-term storage in a pool of water. The cask includes a grid basket assembly, resembling a matrix of pigeonholes, for accommodating cells which in turn accommodate spent fuel assemblies. The grid basket assembly is formed by metal plates which transmit heat to channel sections affixed to the interior walls of the cask. The edges of the plates movably fit into the channel sections in order to permit radial movement of the grid basket assembly with respect to the walls of the cask as temperature changes. During storage the cask can be flooded with helium, which readily transmits heat through narrow gaps between the edges of the plates and the walls of the channel sections. Several embodiments of cells having material for moderating neutrons emitted from spent fuel assemblies are also enclosed, some of these embodiments permitting easy conversion of the cask for storing consolidated fuel rather than intact fuel assemblies.

Growing community of inventors

Pensacola, FL, United States of America

Harry E Flanders, Jr