Deutsche Gesellschaft Fur Wiederaufarbeitung Von Kernbrennstoffen Mbh

Nukem Limited

Harry Spilker

Hans-Peter Dyck

Heinz-Dieter Gregor

Werner Botzem

Klaus Einfeld

Underground storage facility, and associated method of storing waste

A method and apparatus for separating the fuel rods (15) in a fuel element 8), whereby the former are retained in a bird cage arrangement (16, 18) between a head piece (19) and a foot piece (19'). The fuel elements (8) is located on a support table (6) with the help of a clamping arrangement (10). Before the fuel rods can be separated, the head piece and the foot piece are removed. In order to simplify removal of the fuel rods from the fuel element, to save space, and to minimize any risk of breakage after removal of the head piece (19) and the foot piece (19'), the bird cage arrangement (16,18) is progressively stripped from one layer of fuel rods to the next and from around the fuel rods. The exposed fuel rods are then lifted out of the fuel element (8) layer by layer and reshuffled in a more compact arrangement. A cutting tool (24), provided with a cutting disk head (26), is used to strip and separate the fuel rods with the help of a grappler (28). The grappler is used to bend the bird cage arrangement apart, bar by bar, after it is severed.

System for singularizing fuel rods in a fuel element

The invention is directed to a concrete shielding housing for receiving and storing a transportable fuel element container which is suitable for storage and filled with spent nuclear reactor fuel elements. The clear interior dimensions of the concrete shielding housing are somewhat larger than the outer dimensions of the container. During its temporary storage the fuel element container must be monitored with suitable measuring instruments. In order to make the monitoring as simple as possible, measuring probes are arranged on the inner wall surface of the shielding wall of the concrete shielding housing. The measuring probes are embedded in the concrete and are already in place and ready for use before the fuel element container is loaded into the concrete shielding housing.

Concrete shielding housing for receiving and storing a nuclear fuel

The invention is directed to a concrete shielding housing for receiving and storing a transportable fuel element container which is suitable for storage and filled with spent nuclear reactor fuel elements. The outer dimensions of the fuel element container are somewhat smaller than the clear interior dimensions of the concrete shielding housing. The concrete shielding housing includes a pallet-like base which can be moved about from one location to another with the aid of a suitable vehicle such as a fork-lift truck. The housing also includes the concrete shielding wall placeable upon the base, and a cover which can be placed atop the upper end of the concrete shielding wall. At least one air inlet opening is provided at the lower region of the concrete shielding housing and, at the upper region thereof, there is provided at least one air outlet opening. The plan profile of the base is smaller than the plan profile of the concrete shielding wall so that the surface water which accumulates on the concrete shielding housing from falling rain can run off to the ground without hindrance. In addition to the advantageous runoff of the surface water from the concrete shielding housing, this configuration permits the transport corridors in the container storage area to be made narrower.

The invention is directed to a concrete shielding housing for receiving and storing a transportable fuel element container which is suitable for storage and filled with spent nuclear reactor fuel elements. The clear interior dimensions of the concrete shielding housing are somewhat larger than the outer dimensions of the container. At least one air inlet opening is provided at the lower region of the concrete shielding housing and, at the highest location of the housing, there is provided an air outlet opening. The air outlet opening is covered by means of a roof-like cover arranged in spaced relationship to the concrete shielding housing. The air outlet opening is surrounded by plates or metal strips or the like which are securely mounted to the housing and extend upwardly in the direction perpendicular to the housing. The upper edge of these plates terminate at a small distance from the roof-like cover. The air stream escaping from the interior of the housing is guided through a labyrinth-like path to the ambient.

The invention is directed to a concrete shielding housing for receiving and storing a fuel element container filled with spent nuclear reactor fuel elements. The container is suitable for transport and storage. The clear interior dimensions of the concrete shielding housing are somewhat larger than the outer dimensions of the fuel element container. The concrete shielding housing includes a pallet-type base and in the lower region of the housing there is provided at least one air inlet opening and in the upper region of the housing there is provided at least one air outlet opening. To prevent an uncontrolled conduction of moisture away from the interior of the housing to the ground or to the floor of a storage area or building, there is provided a collection pan arranged under the base plate of the pallet-like base. At least one axial bore extends clear through the base plate of the pallet-like base. With the arrangement of the collection pan, contaminated moisture is collected and prevented from seeping into the ground or floor.

The invention is directed to a dry storage facility for storing radioactive materials such as irradiated nuclear reactor fuel elements. The radioactive materials release heat generated by the radioactive decay and are held in gas-tight storage containers. The dry storage facility includes several storage modules for receiving the storage containers. The storage modules are arranged in the enclosure of the dry storage facility which can be in the form of a secure building or an underground storage cavern. A transport passageway extends alongside of the storage modules and a transport apparatus is arranged so as to be movable along this passageway. The storage containers are cooled in the storage modules by natural convection which is direct or indirect. In order to obtain an improved transfer of heat between the storage containers and the rising cooling air, the storage containers are arranged in the storage module such that the storage containers in each of two mutually adjacent planes are arranged crosswise with respect to each other. This crosswise arrangement of the storage containers leads to a swirling of the cooling air as it rises.

Growing community of inventors

Bad Muender, Germany

Harry Spilker