Fluent material handling – with receiver or receiver coacting mea – Automatic control of flow cutoff or diversion – Level or overflow responsive
Reexamination Certificate
2000-02-23
2001-06-05
Jacyna, J. Casimer (Department: 3751)
Fluent material handling, with receiver or receiver coacting mea
Automatic control of flow cutoff or diversion
Level or overflow responsive
C141S383000, C210S097000, C210S323200, C210S416100, C210S418000, C210S454000, C210S345000, C210S220000, C210S212000, C210S086000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06240985
ABSTRACT:
1. FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to devices for filling shipping containers, and, more specifically, to devices that fill shipping containers with radioactive materials.
2. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Radioactive wastes are generated by a number of industrial, medical and electric power generating activities. Periodically, these wastes are processed and prepared for shipment to a disposal site. Because of their radioactive nature, it is important to limit the exposure of employees who process and handle them. It is also important to process the wastes so that they remain stable during shipping and disposal until the radionuclides present decay to nominal levels. Therefore, techniques have been developed to process wastes quickly and efficiently.
There exists a variety of plastic and metal containers used to ship and store radioactive wastes. In particular, certain sludge and ion exchange media slurry wastes are dewatered in shipping containers that are provided with one or more sets of dewatering filters. For a slurry application, an empty container that is already fitted on the inside cavity with dewatering filters and headers is connected to a filling device. The dewatering headers inside the container are manually connected to the corresponding dewatering connections on the filling device, commonly called a fillport. The fillport dewatering connections are connected to a pump or vacuum source.
To fill the container, the waste slurry is pumped through the fillport into the container. As the water-slurry level increases inside the container, the dewatering filters are gradually covered. A float type level transmitter or switch is provided to prevent overfilling the container. A pump or vacuum source is energized to draw excess water from inside the container through the dewatering filters, internal headers, and fillport connections. The slurry is thus dewatered to the extent necessary for shipment and disposal. Once the excess or “free” water is removed from the container, the container contains only dewatered, solid materials. The fillport is then lifted and the dewatering lines that are connected to the dewatering headers inside the container and the fillport are manually disconnected.
The filled container is then closed by putting a lid over the opening. The lids for plastic containers have external threads. The lid is then screwed in the opening on top of the container that has a mating internal threads. Lids of metal containers are typically snapped or bolted on
Fillports typically are held to the container simply by their weight or perhaps by two or more hold-down bolts or toggles. The bolted fillport is secured by manually threading bolts into mating threaded holes on the container. The toggle type fillport is secured by means of two or more toggles or cam arms provided with manual or air-cylinder-operated lever arms.
Dewatering connections typically comprise mating cam and groove type fittings, such as CAM-LOK fittings by Dixon. Occasionally other “quick-disconnect” type fittings are used, such as hydraulic fittings by Parker. These type fittings still all require manual (and literally, handson) make-up and disassembly.
Dewatering filters typically comprise disposable plastic depth-type filters Following each dewatering application the filters that become plugged are removed from the container and discarded. New filters are then installed in the containers that are to be reused.
A variety of such containers, fillports and lids are available from several manufacturers including Chem-Niuclear, Nukem, and Studsvik.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of this invention is to provide a container with mating fillport and lid that eliminates any manual intervention to: (1) set and secure the fillport to the container, (2) connect and seal the container dewatering headers to the fillport dewatering connections; (3) disconnect the dewatering connections and remove the fillport following the completion of container filling and dewatering; and (4) set and secure the lid. In addition, reusable filters are provided that can be backwashed using a combination of air and water to regenerate the filters for reuse.
Eliminating the manual work for connecting and disconnecting the fillport and container results in significant savings in personnel radiation exposure and greater convenience to the operating personnel. Eliminating handling and filter costs for replacing the filter elements makes reuse of the container less expensive. Additional cost savings are achieved from reduced use of the protective clothing and respirators that operations personnel must wear to manually perform assembly and disassembly operations.
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Jacyna J. Casimer
Mann Michael A
Nexsen Pruet Jacobs & Pollard LLC
Studsvik Inc
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