System and process for production and collection of radioisotopes

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2020075187-A1
Application number	US-201916380092-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 10, 2019
Priority date	Nov 2, 2016
Publication date	Mar 5, 2020
Grant date	—

Abstract

A means for installing material, through a fuel assembly instrument thimble insert, into the existing instrument thimbles in nuclear fuel assemblies for the purpose of allowing the material to be converted to commercially valuable quantities of desired radioisotopes during reactor power operations during a remainder of a fuel cycle and removing the radioisotopes from the core through the reactor flange opening once the fuel assemblies have been removed for refueling. The invention also describes methods that can be used to harvest the irradiated material so it can be packaged for transportation from the reactor to a location where the desired radioisotope(s) can be extracted from the fuel assembly instrument thimble insert.

First claim

1 - 8 . (canceled)

9 . A method of irradiating an isotope that requires an extended exposure within a nuclear reactor lasting at least one fuel cycle, to achieve an intended target product, comprising the steps of:
enclosing the isotope within an elongated tubular housing having an axis along its elongated dimension, the elongated tubular housing being closed at a forward end and capped at a rearward end to form a target specimen chamber therebetween within an interior of the elongated tubular housing, the elongated tubular housing being sized to slide within an instrument thimble of a nuclear fuel assembly, with the rearward end structured to be driven by a drive cable of an existing moveable in-core detector system; positioning the isotope at a preselected axial position within the elongated tubular housing; attaching the rearward end to the drive cable; driving the isotope within the elongated tubular housing into and at least partially through an instrument thimble of a selected nuclear fuel assembly within a core of a nuclear reactor; leaving the isotope within the instrument thimble for the remainder of a fuel cycle of the core; withdrawing the elongated tubular housing from the core at the end of the fuel cycle; removing the selected fuel assembly from the core; reinserting the elongated tubular housing at least partially into the core; and removing at least a portion of the elongated tubular housing that contains the isotope by dislodging the portion from the drive cable.

10 . The method of claim 9 wherein the dislodging step cuts the elongated tubular housing around a circumference.

11 . The method of claim 10 including the step of transferring the portion under water to a spent fuel pool.

12 . The method of claim 11 transferring the portion in a building housing the spent fuel pool to a shielded package for shipment.

13 . The method of claim 9 , wherein positioning the isotope at a preselected axial position within the elongated tubular housing comprises positioning the isotope between a forward axial plug and a rear axial plug which extend across the interior of the elongated tubular housing.

14 . The method of claim 9 , wherein the irradiated isotope comprises one or more materials selected from the group consisting of: Co-60, W-188, Ni-63, Bi-213, and Ac-225.

Assignees

• Westinghouse Electric Co Llc

Inventors

• Heibel Michael D

Classifications

• G21C23/00

  Adaptations of reactors to facilitate experimentation or irradiation · CPC title

• G21C19/20 Primary

  Arrangements for introducing objects into the pressure vessel; Arrangements for handling objects within the pressure vessel; Arrangements for removing objects from the pressure vessel · CPC title

• G21C19/07

  Storage racks; Storage pools · CPC title

• G21G1/02 Primary

  in nuclear reactors (by thermonuclear reactions G21B; conversion of nuclear fuel G21C) · CPC title

• G21C17/108 Primary

  Measuring reactor flux · CPC title