Nuclear Waste Container with Conical Lug Locking
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for storing nuclear waste face challenges in compressing and safely confining radioactive materials, as they tend to dilate and exert substantial stresses on containers, exacerbated by gas releases which can be corrosive and pose safety risks, making it difficult to balance compression benefits with safety and volume efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A container design featuring a unique profile of lugs and recesses with high conicity (20°-40°) for the lid and side wall, allowing for strong compression and secure sealing with lower closing forces, while enabling easy insertion and resistance to internal pressures, and optionally incorporating a gas-permeable breathing pellet for controlled degassing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If waste is compressed to reduce storage volume, then space efficiency is improved, but the waste tends to dilate again and exerts substantial stresses on the container
Solution Approach 1:
The container is divided into two main parts: a drum body and a separate blocking member (lid) that is inserted into the drum. This segmentation allows the blocking member to be specifically designed with reinforcement features to handle the dilating stresses of compressed waste, while the drum body maintains its compression-resistant structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The blocking member is designed with built-in reinforcement features (protruding lugs fitting into recesses, conical surfaces) that anticipate and prepare for the dilating forces that will occur after compression. These features are pre-configured to distribute and absorb the stresses before they can damage the container.
2Reliability
If a secure seal is used to prevent waste movement, then containment reliability is improved, but the closing force required is substantial
Solution Approach 1:
The blocking member and drum opening feature conical (conic) surfaces with specific angles (20°-40°). These curved surfaces allow the blocking member to be inserted with relatively low force while automatically creating a secure, self-locking seal that prevents waste movement and resists opening forces.
Solution Approach 2:
The sealing mechanism transitions from a simple linear fit to a three-dimensional conical interference fit. The conical surfaces create radial and axial force components that lock the blocking member in place, providing secure containment with moderate closing forces.
3Stress or pressure
If the lid is inserted tightly to resist internal pressure, then pressure resistance is improved, but insertion becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The conical surfaces with 20°-40° angles provide a gradual taper that guides the blocking member into the drum during insertion. This curved geometry allows the component to be pushed in with moderate force while ensuring tight contact and pressure resistance once positioned.
Solution Approach 2:
The conical angle parameter (20°-40°) is optimized to balance two opposing requirements: a steeper angle would make insertion easier but reduce pressure resistance, while a shallower angle would improve pressure resistance but make insertion more difficult. The specified range achieves the optimal compromise.
4Reliability
If gas releases are contained to maintain safety, then safety is improved, but overpressure builds up in the container
Solution Approach 1:
The blocking member incorporates a breathing pellet with controlled porosity that allows gases to pass through while maintaining the seal. This porous structure enables pressure equalization by allowing radiolysis gases to escape, preventing dangerous overpressure buildup while still containing the waste.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The container effectively resists substantial internal pressures, allows for efficient compression and safe storage of radioactive waste with reduced risk of premature lid opening, and minimizes the impact of gas releases by absorbing corrosive gases, ensuring a high degree of safety and space efficiency.
Implementation Method 1
peripheral outline of the inserted blocking member is provided with at least one protruding lug and extending over its circumference, which has a section of generally triangular shape formed of an inclined surface, directed towards the interior face with an inclination such that said inclined surface moves away from a central axis of said blocking member 6 in a direction from the interior face to the exterior face according to an angle between 20° and 40° in relation to said axis
Implementation Method 2
the interior outline of the end edge of the side wall has at least one recess extending also over its circumference, able to receive said lug in order to ensure a locking of said inserted blocking member on said side wall
Data Source
AI summary
The container is comprised of a side wall of which the end edges are each provided with a blocking member, of which at least one is inserted in order to close an opening. The peripheral outline of the inserted blocking member and the interior outline of the associated end edge of the side wall have generally complementary shapes on at least one portion of their respective heights, in such a way that said inserted blocking member comes to be housed on at least one portion of its height in the space defined by said end edge of the side wall and comes to bear against said end edge by adjusting lugs in recesses of complementary shape. The inclined joining surfaces form an angle from 20° to 40° with the axis of the container.