Claims
- 1. A radioactive material storage facility, comprising:
- a building having a portion located below ground level,
- wall means for bounding an interior space in the building, and
- fluid means for removing thermal energy from the building and for providing radioactive shielding at least at part of a roof of the building, wherein said fluid means comprises a liquid comprising water and a metal salt hydrate.
- 2. The facility of claim 1, wherein said metal is at least one selected from the group consisting of alkali, alkaline earth and transition metals.
- 3. The facility of claim 1, wherein said metal is at least one selected from the group consisting of cobalt, magnesium, and sodium.
- 4. The facility of claim 1, wherein said salt is a sulfate, borate or metaborate salt.
- 5. The facility of claim 1, wherein said liquid further comprises fines.
- 6. The facility of claim 1, wherein said liquid further comprises at least one of lead fines or iron fines.
- 7. The facility of claim 1 further comprising circulating means for circulating at least a portion of said liquid.
- 8. The facility of claim 1, wherein said wall means comprises light weight panels, said panels comprising at least one of a metal salt hydrate, a plastic or a hydrogen-containing material.
- 9. The facility of claim 8, wherein said panels comprise Staytex.RTM. materials.
- 10. The facility of claim 8, wherein said facility is earthquake proof.
- 11. The facility of claim 1, wherein said salt comprises epsom salt, said fluid means comprises a slurry of said epsom salt and water.
- 12. A radioactive material storage facility comprising:
- a building having at least one wall and a roof; and
- a fluid system comprising a composition containment means for retrievably holding a composition and a composition comprising water and a metal salt hydrate.
- 13. The facility of claim 12, wherein said metal is at least one selected from the group consisting of cobalt, magnesium, and sodium.
- 14. The facility of claim 12, wherein said salt is a sulfate, borate or metaborate salt.
- 15. The facility of claim 12, wherein said composition further comprises at least one of lead fines or iron fines.
- 16. The facility of claim 12, further comprising circulating means for circulating at least a portion of said composition.
- 17. The facility of claim 12, wherein said wall comprises light-weight panels, said panels comprising at least one of a metal salt hydrate, a plastic or a hydrogen-containing material.
- 18. The facility of claim 17, wherein said panels comprise Staytex.RTM. materials.
- 19. The facility of claim 12, wherein said metal salt hydrate comprises epsom salt, said composition comprises a slurry of said epsom salt and water.
- 20. A method of effecting radiation shielding and thermal energy removal from a toxic waste storage facility, comprising using a composition comprising water and a metal salt hydrate.
- 21. The method of claim 20, wherein said metal is at least one selected from the group consisting of alkali, alkaline earth and transition metals.
- 22. The method of claim 20, wherein said metal is at least one selected from the group consisting of cobalt, magnesium, and sodium.
- 23. The method of claim 20, wherein said salt is a sulfate, borate or metaborate salt.
- 24. The method of claim 20, wherein the composition further comprises fines.
- 25. The method of claim 20, wherein said composition further comprises at least one of lead fines or iron fines.
- 26. The method of claim 20, wherein said facility comprises at least one wall and a roof, and the method further comprises circulating the composition through at least one wall or roof of the facility.
- 27. The method of claim 20, further comprising absorbing nuclear radiation in the metal salt hydrate and removing the metal salt hydrate from the composition to reduce the radiation level.
- 28. The method of claim 27, further comprising reloading the composition with additional metal salt hydrate and recirculating the composition.
- 29. The method of claim 20, further comprising monitoring the radiation level in the facility and loading an amount of metal salt hydrate in the composition that is proportional to the radiation level.
- 30. The method of claim 20, wherein said metal salt hydrate comprises epsom salt, said composition comprises a slurry of said epsom salt and water.
- 31. The method of claim 20, wherein the composition is used as a coolant.
- 32. A toxic waste depot method comprising using the shielding effect of the ground to tend to prevent leakage of radiation in combination with a fluid of specific gravity characteristic greater than that of water, wherein the fluid comprises water and a metal salt hydrate, to provide both radioactive shielding thermal energy removal functions.
- 33. A method of generating power comprising generating electric energy from heat removed from the facility of claim 1 with toxic waste stored therein.
- 34. A method of monitoring of one or more conditions of the toxic waste storage facility of claim 1 in which radioactive material and/or other material therein is stored using detectors and other instrumentation mold molded into prefabricated walls of the facility.
- 35. The method of claim 34, wherein monitoring of the storage facility is conducted off-site.
Parent Case Info
This is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/184,859, filed Jan. 21, 1994 U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,825, the entire disclosure of which hereby is incorporated by reference.
US Referenced Citations (15)
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
184859 |
Jan 1994 |
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