MANIFOLD SYSTEM FOR THE VENTILATED STORAGE OF HIGH LEVEL WASTE AND A METHOD OF USING THE SAME TO STORE HIGH LEVEL WASTE IN A BELOW-GRADE ENVIRONMENT

摘要

A system and method for storing multiple canisters containing high level waste below grade that afford adequate ventilation of the spent fuel storage cavity. In one aspect, the invention is a ventilated system for storing high level waste emitting heat, the system comprising: an air-intake shell forming an air-intake cavity; a plurality of storage shells, each storage shell forming a storage cavity; a lid positioned atop each of the storage shells; an outlet vent forming a passageway between an ambient environment and a top portion of each of the storage cavities; and a network of pipes forming hermetically sealed passageways between a bottom portion of the air-intake cavity and at least two different openings at a bottom portion of each of the storage cavities such that blockage of a first one of the openings does not prohibit air from flowing from the air-intake cavity into the storage cavity via a second one of the openings.

主权项

1. A method for storing and cooling nuclear waste canisters comprising:
providing a manifold storage system comprising a vertical air inlet downcomer, a piping network fluidly coupled to the downcomer, and a plurality of vertically oriented storage shells each fluidly coupled to the piping network, each storage shell forming a cavity configured for holding a nuclear waste canister; positioning a hermetically sealed nuclear waste canister containing high level nuclear waste into each cavity of the storage shells to form an annular gap between each canister and their respective shells, the nuclear waste generating heat; drawing cooling air from the ambient atmosphere into the downcomer; distributing the cooling air from the downcomer through the piping network to the storage shells; introducing the cooling air into the annular gaps of each storage shell; heating the cooling air via the nuclear waste in each storage shell thereby producing heated air; and venting the heated air from the storage shells back to the ambient atmosphere.