Claims
- 1. A corrosion resistant, radioactive-waste-material-isolating, long-term storage container for isolating radioactive waste material in a high level waste repository comprising:
- a plurality of at least three completely sealed corrosion resistant canisters of different relative sizes, said canisters being arranged with all of the smaller canisters encased within and completely surrounded by and sealed within the largest canister and with the smallest canister encased within all of the other canisters in said plurality of canisters, and spacer means disposed between juxtaposed pairs of said canisters, said spacer means being effective to space the canisters of each of said juxtaposed pairs from one another.
- 2. An invention as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said canisters is made of essentially the same kind of material, thereby to prevent electrolytic action from occurring between said juxtaposed pairs of canisters responsive to an electrolyte entering the spaces between them.
- 3. An invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said spacer means comprises densely packed particulate material that is arranged in separate batches that are positioned, respectively, between each of said juxtaposed pairs of canisters, said particulate material being effective to; inhibit free flow of liquids, inhibit diffusion of reactants from the juxtaposed surfaces of said canisters, inhibit removal of corrosion products from the juxtaposed surfaces of said canisters, and provide large surface areas for adsorbing reactants that penetrate the outer canisters.
- 4. An invention as defined in claim 3 wherein said batches of particulate material each substantially fill, respectively, one of the spaces between one of said juxtaposed pairs of canisters.
- 5. An invention as defined in claim 3 wherein said particulate material comprises particles of carbon.
- 6. An invention as defined in claim 3 wherein at least one of said batches of material comprises a material different from that in the other batches.
- 7. An invention as defined in claim 6 wherein at least one of said batches of material is sufficiently small so that it only partially fills the space between the pair of canisters juxtaposed therewith.
- 8. An invention as defined in claim 7 wherein said at least one batch substantially fills about half of the space between the pair of canisters juxtaposed therewith.
- 9. An invention as defined in claim 2 wherein each of said canisters has a substantially uniform wall thickness in the range of about 0.015 to 0.040 inch.
- 10. An invention as defined in claim 9 wherein each of said canisters has a substantially equal wall thickness.
- 11. An invention as defined in claim 10 wherein said plurality comprises at least three, and wherein each of said canisters is made of stainless steel and has a wall thickness of about 0.018 inch.
- 12. An invention as defined in claim 1 wherein said spacer means are made of essentially the same material as that used to make the respective canisters juxtaposed therewith.
- 13. An invention as defined in claim 1 wherein each of said canisters has a generally cylindrical central portion and two integral domes sealing the opposite ends of said central portion.
- 14. An invention as defined in claim 13 wherein the largest canister has a generally uniform wall thickness that is about at least twice as thick as the wall thickness of any of the other canisters in said plurality of canisters.
- 15. An invention as defined in claim 13 wherein said spacer means comprises a plurality of bands of particulate material, each of said bands of material being positioned around a predetermined portion of said canisters in juxtaposition therewith.
- 16. An invention as defined in claim 15 wherein each of said bands of material is positioned around the middle portion of one of said canisters, and wherein each of said bands of material is effective to prevent the canisters from moving relative to one another.
Government Interests
The U.S. Government has rights in this invention pursuant to Contract Number DE-AC02-76CH00016, between the U.S. Department of Energy and Associated Universities Inc.
US Referenced Citations (16)
Foreign Referenced Citations (2)
Number |
Date |
Country |
2824240 |
Dec 1979 |
DEX |
3244727 |
Jun 1984 |
DEX |