System for spent nuclear fuel storage

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11289237-B2
Application number	US-201916239060-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 3, 2019
Priority date	May 11, 2012
Publication date	Mar 29, 2022
Grant date	Mar 29, 2022

Abstract

The system for storage includes spent nuclear fuel arranged in a drift and at least one first mechanical structure configured to cause a target material to move in the drift. The at least one first mechanical structure is configured to at least assist in actively controlling an exposure rate of the target material to the spent nuclear fuel while the target material is being exposed to the spent nuclear fuel. The system includes at least one second mechanical structure configured to remove the target material from the drift after the target material is exposed to the spent nuclear fuel.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for storage, comprising:
spent nuclear fuel arranged in a drift;
at least one first mechanical structure configured to cause the spent nuclear fuel to move within the drift, the at least one first mechanical structure being configured to at least assist in actively controlling an exposure rate of a target material to the spent nuclear fuel while the target material is being exposed to the spent nuclear fuel; and
at least one second mechanical structure configured to at least assist in moving the target material through the drift, the at least one second mechanical structure being configured to remove the target material from the drift after the target material is exposed to the spent nuclear fuel.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first mechanical structure is configured to control the exposure rate by controlling a distance between the target material and the spent nuclear fuel, the at least one first mechanical structure including one of rail cars on rails or a conveyor belt.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one first mechanical structure is configured to support the spent nuclear fuel, the at least one first mechanical structure being one or more rail cars on rails or a conveyor belt, the at least one second mechanical structure including a fluid piping system, and the target material including a coolant.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one second mechanical structure includes a fluid piping system and the target material includes a coolant.

5. The system of claim 4 , further comprising:
at least one instrument, the at least one instrument being configured to measure at least one parameter of at least one of the drift or the coolant in the fluid piping system.

6. The system of claim 4 , wherein the fluid piping system is configured to at least assist in the actively controlling of the exposure rate of the target material by,
adjusting at least one of an identity of the coolant, a flowrate of the coolant, a proximity of the spent nuclear fuel relative to the fluid piping system, a shielding within the drift, an overall quantity of spent nuclear fuel, or a composition of the spent nuclear fuel.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the at least one instrument includes a radiation monitor, the radiation monitor being configured to measure a gamma radiation exposure rate, the at least one first mechanical structure being configured to at least assist in actively controlling the exposure rate by,
actively controlling the gamma radiation exposure rate in order to change a physical property of the coolant.

8. The system of claim 4 , further comprising:
a flow meter configured to measure a flowrate of the coolant in the fluid piping system; and
at least one first temperature gauge configured to measure a first temperature of the coolant in the fluid piping system.

9. The system of claim 8 , further comprising:
at least one second temperature gauge configured to measure a second temperature of the spent nuclear fuel.

10. The system of claim 4 , further comprising:
a commercial process configured to utilize one of warm coolant or steam,
wherein the fluid piping system is configured to provide the warm coolant or the steam to the commercial process.

11. The system of claim 4 , further comprising:
a waste heat electricity generator configured to use one of warm coolant or steam to produce electricity,
wherein the fluid piping system is configured to provide the warm coolant or the steam to the waste heat electricity generator.

12. The system of claim 4 , wherein the spent nuclear fuel is arranged around at least a portion of the fluid piping system.

13. The system of claim 1 , wherein the exposure rate is one of a heat exposure rate or a radiation exposure rate.

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the spent nuclear fuel is arranged in the drift in order to at least one of heat or irradiate the target material.

15. The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
at least one instrument, the at least one instrument being configured to measure at least one parameter of at least one of the drift, the spent nuclear fuel or the target material.

16. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is configured to heat or irradiate the target material to convert the target material from a first physical state to a second physical state, and an economic value of the target material increases due to the conversion.

Assignees

• Ge Hitachi Nuclear Energy Americas Llc

Inventors

• Loewen Eric P
• Hagaman Jordan E

Classifications

• A61L2103/15

  Laboratory, medical or dentistry appliances, e.g. catheters or sharps · CPC title

• A23B2/503

  with corpuscular or ionising radiation, i.e. X, alpha, beta or omega radiation · CPC title

• Y02E30/00

  Energy generation of nuclear origin · CPC title

• G21H5/00 Primary

  Applications of radiation from radioactive sources or arrangements therefor, not otherwise provided for · CPC title

• A61L2/081

  Gamma radiation · CPC title