CONTAINER FOR RECEIVING AND SAFELY STORING RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS AND METHOD FOR TIGHTLY SEALING THE SAME

摘要

A Container for Receiving and Safely Storing Radioactive Materials and Method for Tightly Sealing the Same The invention is directed to a container for receiving and safely storing radioactive or other materials damaging to living organisms, especially such materials as vitrified radioactive fission products or irradiated nuclear reactor fuel elements. The container includes a vessel and a sealing cover. The vessel has a circular opening at one of its ends for receiving the materials to be stored therein, and a sealing cover is seated in this opening to tightly seal the container. In order to obtain a container of the kind which has the required high impermeability to gas, the open end of the inner bore of the vessel is widened to define a conical surface. A sealing cover is pressed into the vessel at this conical surface. The sealing cover has a peripheral surface which converges toward the interior of the vessel and which has a taper corresponding to that of the conical surface of the vessel. The vessel wall and sealing cover are welded together by means of a fused-mass joint extending around the entire periphery of the cover. By means of the conical configuration of the upper end portion of the vessel and of the sealing cover, a considerably improved seal between the vessel wall and the sealing cover is obtained. A method for sealing the container is also disclosed. Field of the Invention The invention relates to a container for receiving and safely storing radioactive materials and other materials damaging to living organisms. The container is especially