Dry storage facility for irradiated nuclear reactor fuel elements

Dry storage facility for storing radioactive materials such as irradiated nuclear reactor fuel elements releasing heat produced by radioactive decay, the radioactive materials being held in gas-tight, elongated storage containers, the dry storage facility comprising:

• an enclosure having an elongated transport passageway extending therethrough;
• at least two storage modules;
• each of said modules including a plurality of storage tubes for holding a corresponding plurality of said containers, said storage tubes being grouped into a plurality of sets of storage tubes, said sets of storage tubes being mounted in said storage module in respective horizontal planes one atop the other with the longitudinal axes of the tubes of each set extending in a direction crosswise to the longitudinal axes of the tubes of the next adjacent set;
• each of said storage modules being a separate block-like unit having a square base and being bounded on its four sides by vertical walls with two diagonally opposite corners of said unit defining a vertical diagonal plane bisecting the unit into two triangular halves;
• said storage modules being arranged along the side of said transport passageway so as to cause said diagonal plane to extend parallel to the longitudinal direction of said passageway;
• a movable transport facility arranged in said enclosure so as to be movable along said transport passageway for transporting and loading said containers into said storage tubes of said storage modules;
• and,
• convection cooling means for conducting cooling air through said storage modules to cool said containers.

Dry storage facility for storing radioactive materials such as irradiated nuclear reactor fuel elements releasing heat produced by radioactive decay, the radioactive materials being held in gas-tight, elongated storage containers, the dry storage facility comprising:

• an enclosure having an elongated transport passageway extending therethrough;
• a plurality of storage modules arranged within said enclosure, a first portion thereof being disposed on one side of said passageway and the remaining portion of said modules being disposed on the other side of said passageway, each of said storage modules being a separate block-like unit having a square base and being bounded on its four sides by vertical walls with two diagonally opposite corners of said unit defining a vertical diagonal plane bisecting the unit into two triangular halves;
• said storage modules being arranged along the side of said transport passageway so as to cause said diagonal plane to extend parallel to the longitudinal direction of said passageway, one of said triangular halves of each of said storage modules facing said passageway whereas the other one of said triangular halves of each of said storage modules facing away from said passageway;
• each one of said storage modules including a plurality of storage tubes for holding a corresponding plurality of said elongated storage containers, said storage tubes of each of said modules being disposed therein so as to be able to receive said containers through at least one of the vertical walls of said one triangular half;
• convection cooling means communicating with said storage modules for passing a cooling medium therethrough for cooling said storage containers;
• and,
• a movable transport apparatus arranged in said enclosure so as to be movable along said transport passageway for transporting and loading said containers into said storage tubes through at least said one vertical wall of said one triangular half.