Induced nuclear reactions: processes – systems – and elements – Handling of fission reactor component structure within... – Storage container systems for new and/or irradiated core...
Patent
1992-04-09
1994-07-05
Wasil, Daniel D.
Induced nuclear reactions: processes, systems, and elements
Handling of fission reactor component structure within...
Storage container systems for new and/or irradiated core...
2505061, 114257, G21F 924
Patent
active
053274695
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to an arrangement for the storage of environmentally hazardous waste, and more particularly, but not exclusively, to an arrangement for the storage of radioactive or chemical waste.
The inventive arrangement is based on the offshore storage of waste of the aforesaid nature, i.e. underwater storage at relatively great depths. The invention provides several significant advantages over earlier proposed methods of storing such waste on land, in rock cavities and like storage facilities. For instance, the inventive offshore storage facility enables any leakages that may occur to be monitored and remedied much more easily than is the case with known facilities. Furthermore, the invention enables the use of considerably larger and heavier storage containers, each of which can thus accommodate a larger quantity of waste and afford greater security against the permeation of radiation from, e.g., radioactive waste .
The invention will now be described in greater detail with reference to an exemplifying embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which
FIG. 1 illustrates in side view, partly in axial section, an inventive concrete body which functions as a secondary capsule;
FIG. 2 is an end view, partly in radial section, of the concrete body shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 illustrates schematically, and in axial section, a primary waste-storage capsule of appropriate conventional construction and intended to be placed in a secondary capsule of the kind illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2; and
FIG. 4 illustrates schematically an annular concrete structure which is intended to rest on the sea bed and which functions as a storage place for a plurality of secondary capsules according to FIGS. 1 and 2.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate an exemplifying embodiment of the basic element of the inventive storage arrangement. The basic element comprises a secondary capsule 1 which is intended to accommodate and to seal a primary capsule 2 of, for instance, the configuration illustrated in FIG. 3, said primary capsule containing the environmentally hazardous waste, e.g. radioactive or chemical waste, to be stored. The primary capsule 2 may be of any appropriate, known design which will enable waste to be handled and transported from its place of origin to the secondary capsule 1 without danger to the environment from said waste.
The secondary capsule 1 consists of a concrete cylinder which, in the case of the illustrated embodiment has hemi-spherical ends. The illustrated concrete cylinder has a central storage cavity 3, which in the case of the illustrated embodiment has the form of a centrally located, axially extending hollow shaft which is open at one end and into which the primary capsule 2 can be inserted in the manner illustrated schematically in FIG. 1. The open end of the shaft is plugged or likewise sealed with concrete for example, subsequent to inserting the primary capsule into the shaft. An advantage is afforded when the open end of the shaft is plugged in a manner which will enable the plug to be removed readily at a later stage, e.g. by incorporating fracture weakening or the like in the plug, therewith to to enable the primary capsule to be removed.
The secondary capsule 1 is intended to be submerged permanently under water and to this end is configured with a plurality of internal ballast chambers 4 distributed circumferentially around the concrete cylinder. These chambers can be filled with water to varying degrees and the total volume of the chambers is such as to enable the secondary capsule 1, together with an inserted primary capsule 2, to float in the water and to be brought to different attitudes therein, e.g. with the longitudinal axis of the concrete cylinder extending vertically or horizontally. Consequently, since it is possible to control the effective "weight" of the secondary capsule 1 and also its attitude in the water, the secondary capsule 1 can be made very large and heavy without making it impossible to handle and move the capsule in water, such handling and moveme
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Hydro Beting AB
Wasil Daniel D.
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