Horizontally supported planar surfaces – Industrial platform – With load-confining means
Patent
1997-01-13
1998-11-03
Chen, Jose V.
Horizontally supported planar surfaces
Industrial platform
With load-confining means
108 531, B65D 1944
Patent
active
058293620
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to the storage of hazardous material and, in particular, to a stillage for storing and/or transporting a plurality of drums containing, for example, radioactive waste.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known, for example, to store radioactive waste which is encapsulated in a cementitious matrix inside stainless steel drums. The drums are stored within a shielded building, possibly to await eventual disposal in a deep underground repository. The shielded building and the system for storing the drums within the building must be designed to resist not only normal operational loads but also seismic and extreme environmental conditions. Otherwise, such occurrences could initiate the leakage of radioactive substances from the drums, resulting in a dangerously polluted atmosphere.
From French Utility Certificate No. 2249547 it is known to provide a stillage in which four drums containing radioactive waste can be accommodated. The stillages can be arranged one above another to form a vertical stack. However, a problem with the stillage disclosed in this prior publication is that its construction is not conducive to the formation of a stack of, say, more than three stillages that will remain stable during loadings caused by a seismic event. Thus, stacks formed from more than three of these prior art stillages may require support from a separate framework designed to withstand seismic loading. Such a framework is complicated and expensive to manufacture and construct and may require a horizontal restraint linked to the building structure in which the stillage stacks are formed, thereby restricting the utility of the system.
A further disadvantage of such a prior art system is that the stillage support framework occupies a substantial amount of space. Therefore, the number of stillages, and hence the number of drums, that can be stored in the building is limited. Difficulties are also encountered in that the stillage support framework impedes the desired circulation of cooling air around the drums. If a horizontal restraint is provided between the stillage support framework and the storage building walls, any occurrence of seismic loadings will be transmitted through the restraint to the walls. Consequently, the walls will need to be thick, so adding to the costs incurred in constructing the building.
It is an object of this invention to provide a stillage for storing and/or transporting a plurality of drums containing hazardous material which overcomes, or at least minimises, the above-mentioned disadvantages.
According to the present invention a stillage for storing and/or transporting a plurality of drums containing hazardous material comprises a fabricated metal structure comprising a substantially planar base having four sides defining a substantially rectangular shape, a post provided at each corner of the base, each post extending upwardly from and perpendicularly to the base, and a plurality of support pads, each of which is provided on or fixed to a post at an end remote from the base and disposed so as to lie in a plane parallel to, or substantially parallel to, a plane containing the base.
Preferably, each post comprises a hollow structure having two planar outer walls, each of which extends parallel to, or substantially parallel to, an adjacent side of the base.
Each post may have an inner wall extending between two mutually remote ends of the two planar outer walls to define a hollow structure of triangular cross-section. Alternatively, the inner wall extending between the two mutually remote ends of the outer wall comprises a first planar section extending inwardly from one of the remote ends, a second planar section extending inwardly from the other of the remote ends, and an arcuate portion extending between and interconnecting the first and second planar sections.
Desirably, each support pad has sides extending parallel to, or substantially to, the walls of an associated post. Thus, for example, where the posts are of triangular cross-section, the sup
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patent: 4013020 (1977-03-01), Schoeller et al.
patent: 4572372 (1986-02-01), Smith et al.
patent: 5052307 (1991-10-01), Morrison
patent: 5533456 (1996-07-01), Regina
Evans Raymond Victor
Hayward David Stephen
British Nuclear Fuels plc.
Chen José V.
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