Holtec International. has filed a patent for an impact amelioration system for nuclear fuel storage components. The system includes a fuel storage canister and outer cask with impact limiter assemblies that protect the canister and its contents during a drop event. The impact limiter assemblies consist of plugs and plug holes that deform to dissipate kinetic impact energy. GlobalData’s report on Holtec International gives a 360-degree view of the company including its patenting strategy. Buy the report here.
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Impact amelioration system for nuclear fuel storage components
A recently filed patent (Publication Number: US20230282382A1) describes a method for reducing impact between components of a fuel storage system. The method involves partially embedding impact limiter plugs into plug holes in a bottom closure plate of a cask. The canister is then seated on these plugs, which are positioned at a certain depth in the plug holes. The canister is impacted against the plugs with a force, and this impact drives the plugs to a deeper depth in the plug holes.
In one embodiment of the method, the impact force is generated by dropping the cask against a surface. The driving step, which pushes the plugs to a deeper depth, involves frictionally engaging and sliding the tapered sides of the plugs along tapered sidewalls in the plug holes. The seating step, where the canister is placed on the plugs, includes engaging the plugs with a bottom baseplate of the canister.
The plugs used in this method have a frustoconical shape, and the plug holes also have a frustoconical shape. The plugs protrude upwards beyond the bottom closure plate, creating a vertical gap between the canister and the plate. The top surface of the plugs is planar and abuttingly engages the canister through a flat-to-flat interface. The plug holes have a closed bottom and an open top.
The driving step, which pushes the plugs to a deeper depth, is achieved through elastoplastic deformation resulting from the impact. The plugs are made of an elastoplastic metal to facilitate this deformation. Additionally, the plugs each act on and expand an annular expansion ring in each plug hole, engaging the sidewalls of the plug hole. These expansion rings have a tapered central opening that engages the tapered sides of the plugs and straight sidewalls that engage the straight sidewalls of the plug holes.
In some embodiments, the plugs also shear sacrificial threads in the lower portion of the plug holes during the driving step. The upper portion of the plug holes has tapered sidewalls that frictionally engage the tapered sides of the plugs.
Overall, this patent describes a method for reducing impact between components of a fuel storage system by using impact limiter plugs that are driven to a deeper depth in plug holes through various mechanisms such as frictional engagement, elastoplastic deformation, and shearing of sacrificial threads.
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GlobalData Patent Analytics tracks bibliographic data, legal events data, point in time patent ownerships, and backward and forward citations from global patenting offices. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
