Nuclear materials apparatus and implementing the same
View Patent ↗An apparatus for supporting spent nuclear fuel including a plurality of wall plates arranged in an intersecting manner to define a basket apparatus extending along a longitudinal axis. The basket apparatus may include a plurality of fuel cells and a plurality of flux traps between adjacent fuel cells. A plurality of reinforcement members may be positioned in the flux traps and may extend between opposing ones of the wall plates that form the flux traps. Each of the wall plates may be a slotted wall plate. The slotted wall plates may be interlocked with one another to form the basket apparatus. Each of the slotted wall plates may include an upper edge, a lower edge, and a plurality of plate slots formed in each of the upper and lower edges. The plate slots of the slotted wall plates may receive intersecting slotted wall plates.
1. A separable multi-component cask for spent nuclear fuel transport and storage comprising:
a vertical longitudinal axis;
a vertically elongated first body having a neutron radiation shielding composition, the first body defining a first cavity extending along the longitudinal axis;
a vertically elongated second body having a gamma radiation blocking composition, the second body defining a second cavity extending along the longitudinal axis and configured to hold a spent nuclear fuel canister;
the second body detachably mounted inside the first cavity of the first body; and
an air ventilation annulus formed between the first and second bodies, the air ventilation annulus defining a heat removal passage to remove heat emitted by the canister when placed inside the second body;
wherein the neutron radiation shield composition of the first body comprises a solid boron-containing material.
2. The cask according to claim 1 , wherein the second body has a higher thermal conductivity than the first body.
3. The cask according to claim 1 , wherein the second body includes a bottom lid attached to a bottom end of the second body, and a radially protruding top mounting flange extending circumferentially around a top end of the second body.
4. The cask according to claim 3 , wherein the top mounting flange is received at least partially with an upwardly open annular recess formed in a top end of the first body.
5. The cask according to claim 4 , wherein the annular recess is formed by an angle ring having an L-shaped cross section.
6. The cask according to claim 4 , wherein the annular recess comprises a plurality of raised spacer blocks, the top mounting flange of the second cylinder being seated on the spacer blocks to form a plurality of upper air outlet openings between the top flange and the first body within the recess which is in fluid communication with the air ventilation annulus between the first and second bodies.
7. The cask according to claim 6 , wherein the top mounting flange is coupled directly to the spacer blocks by threaded fasteners.
8. The cask according to claim 3 , wherein the first body includes a castellated top end, the top mounting flange of the second body being supported on the castellated top end forming a plurality of upper air openings in fluid communication with the air ventilation annulus.
9. The cask according to claim 3 , wherein the second body comprises a composite wall construction including a cylindrical inner shell and a cylindrical outer shell with a gamma blocking liner sandwiched therebetween.
10. The cask according to claim 9 , further comprising an annular bottom closure ring disposed on bottom ends of the inner and outer shells.
11. The cask according to claim 10 , further comprising a resiliently compressible annular gasket compressed at an interface between the bottom lid and the bottom closure ring which forms a seal that seals the second cavity of the second body at a bottom of the second cavity.
12. The cask according to claim 11 , wherein seal is formed of an elastomeric material or rubber.
13. The cask according to claim 10 , wherein the bottom closure ring is coupled to the bottom lid by a plurality of threaded fasteners.
14. The cask according to claim 1 , wherein the first and second bodies each have a cylindrical configuration.
15. The cask according to claim 1 , wherein the second body comprises a plurality of lifting lug assemblies configured so that when the second body is detachably mounted inside the first body, the entire cask is liftable or lowerable via the lifting lug assemblies.
16. The cask according to claim 1 , further comprising the spent nuclear fuel canister disposed in the second cavity of the second body, and an open vertically-extending cooling air ventilation annulus formed by a gap between the spent nuclear fuel canister and the second body.
17. The cask according to claim 16 , further comprising a bottom lid coupled to a bottom end of the second body, and a plurality of air inlet holes extending through the bottom lid which provide a passage configured for introducing ambient cooling ventilation into the cooling air ventilation annulus.
18. A separable multi-component cask for spent nuclear fuel transport and storage comprising:
a vertical longitudinal axis;
a vertically elongated first body comprising a solid neutron radiation shielding composition containing boron, the first body defining a first cavity extending along the longitudinal axis;
a vertically elongated second body having a gamma radiation blocking composition, the second body defining a second cavity extending along the longitudinal axis and configured to hold a spent nuclear fuel canister; and
the second body detachably mounted inside the first cavity of the first body;
an air ventilation annulus formed between the first and second bodies, the air ventilation annulus defining a heat removal passage to remove heat emitted by the canister when placed inside the second body; and
the first body and the second body each comprising a top mounting flange;
wherein the top mounting flange of the second body is detachably coupled to the top mounting flange of the first body by a plurality of threaded fasteners.
19. The cask according to claim 18 , further comprising a plurality of lifting lug assemblies coupled to the top mounting flange of the second body, the lifting lug assemblies being configured so that the entire cask is liftable or lower able via the lifting lug assemblies.