EP0561694B1 - Container for receiving a liquid for protecting biologically against ionizing radiations, wall and method to build up a wall comprising such containers - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to biological protection against ionizing radiation.

It finds a particularly important, although not exclusive, application in the field of removable biological protections, the installation of which makes it possible to intervene in an irradiating medium for a determined time while minimizing the doses of irradiation absorbed by the participants.

Removable biological protection devices are already known. They essentially consist of bricks of absorbent material, for example lead bricks that are placed between the source of ionizing radiation and the operators having to intervene near the latter.

Such removable protections have drawbacks. Indeed they are on the one hand expensive, and on the other hand difficult and long to implement.

Another type of device such as that described in US-A-4 440 623 consists of a stack of containers, each container being able to be filled and emptied by means of two orifices arranged in the upper and lower part thereof. However, such a device does not seem to solve the problem relating to the venting of the stacked cans when they are filled one by one.

The present invention aims to overcome these drawbacks.

To do this, it aims to provide elements constituting a biological protection wall and a method for forming said wall, meeting better than those previously known the requirements of practice, in particular in that they make it possible to constitute a protection removable biological effective against ionizing radiation, by example allowing the dose rates to be divided by a factor of ten, inexpensively, simple and quick to implement.

To this end, the invention proposes in particular a liquid retention container for biological protection against ionizing radiation, comprising a liquid retention enclosure, substantially parallelepipedic, comprising on the one hand four vertical side walls, namely two side walls longitudinal, a transverse rear wall and a transverse front wall and on the other hand a lower wall and an upper wall, characterized in that the front vertical side wall or the upper wall is provided with two orifices located in the upper part of said front wall or on a projecting part of the upper wall with respect to the container,
and in that the container comprises a pipe, internal to said enclosure, connected on one side to one of said orifices and opening on the other side in close proximity to the internal surface of the bottom wall of said enclosure.

The invention also provides a liquid retention container for biological protection against ionizing radiation, comprising a liquid retention enclosure, substantially parallelepiped, comprising on the one hand four vertical side walls, namely two longitudinal side walls, one transverse rear wall and a transverse front wall provided with two orifices located in the upper part of said front wall, and on the other hand a lower wall and an upper wall having complementary shapes suitable for allowing vertical interlocking between two superimposed canisters, and a pipe, internal to said enclosure, connected on one side to one of said orifices and emerging on the other side in close proximity to the internal surface of the lower wall of said enclosure.

• la conduite interne est solidaire de l'enceinte à laquelle elle est fixée de façon inamovible;
• le bidon est manuellement déplaçable, à vide, la paroi avant verticale ou la paroi supérieure étant munie de moyens de préhension dudit bidon ;
• la paroi supérieure de l'enceinte comporte une partie d'extrémité en saillie vers l'extérieur par rapport à l'enceinte, dont la face avant forme la partie supérieure de la paroi avant du bidon, munie desdits orifices ;
• la face avant de la partie d'extrémité en saillie de la paroi supérieure est centrée par rapport au plan vertical longitudinal central du bidon ;
• les parois inférieure et supérieure présentent une surface en pente descendante sensiblement à partir de la paroi avant du bidon ;
• l'orifice connecté à la conduite interne est situé en dessous de l'autre orifice ;
• les parois inférieure et supérieure présentent une surface en pente descendante à partir d'une arête centrale passant par le plan vertical longitudinal central du bidon ;
• les parois supérieure et inférieure présentent respectivement au moins un pion et au moins une alvéole de forme complémentaire audit pion, agencés pour que le pion d'un premier bidon s'emboîte avec l'alvéole d'un second bidon lors de la superposition verticale de deux bidons.

In advantageous embodiments of the invention, one and / or the other of the following arrangements are also used:

• the internal pipe is integral with the enclosure to which it is fixed irremovably;
• the container is manually movable, when empty, the vertical front wall or the upper wall being provided with means for gripping said container;
• the upper wall of the enclosure has an end portion projecting outwardly relative to the enclosure, the front face of which forms the upper part of the front wall of the container, provided with said orifices;
• the front face of the projecting end part of the upper wall is centered relative to the central longitudinal vertical plane of the container;
• the lower and upper walls have a downwardly sloping surface substantially from the front wall of the container;
• the orifice connected to the internal pipe is located below the other orifice;
• the lower and upper walls have a downwardly sloping surface from a central edge passing through the central longitudinal vertical plane of the container;
• the upper and lower walls respectively have at least one pawn and at least one cell of complementary shape to said pin, arranged so that the pin of a first container fits with the cell of a second container during the vertical superposition of two containers.

The invention also provides a biological protection wall against ionizing radiation, characterized in that it comprises several cans of the type described above, arranged horizontally side by side and / or fitted vertically into one another, constituting at least one group of cans,
and means for connecting the cans of the same group together for filling and emptying said cans by siphonage, each group of cans comprising an associated set of pipes, said set comprising a first pipe connectable on one side to a supply in water or to a siphon tank, and connected on the other side to the orifice connected to the internal pipe of a first container of said group, a second pipe connected on one side to the other orifice of the first container and on the other side to the orifice connected to the internal pipe of a second container of said group, a third pipe connected on one side to the other orifice of the second container and on the other side to the orifice connected to the internal pipe of a third container of said group, and so on until the last container of each of said groups of containers.

Advantageously, the wall also comprises means for holding and stabilizing the stacked canisters comprising a vertical frame comprising at least one element, substantially in the form of a lattice angle, comprising a lower horizontal wing on which a first row rests. lower of cans, said horizontal wing being connected to a vertical side wing adjoining a vertical column at the end of cans, at least one end of the lower wing being rigidly connected to one side of the vertical wing by an inclined stiffening arm .

In an advantageous embodiment, the wall further comprises protective plates for the cans removably fixed, advantageously in padlockable manner to prevent unauthorized dismantling of the protective wall, on the means for holding the cans.

• . on empile verticalement et/ou on juxtapose latéralement des bidons vides de rétention d'un liquide, emboîtables verticalement et/ou jouxtables côte à côte latéralement, chaque bidon comportant une paroi avant verticale ou une paroi supérieure munie de deux orifices situés en partie haute de ladite paroi, et une conduite interne au bidon connectée d'un côté à l'un desdits orifices et débouchant de l'autre côté à proximité immédiate de la surface interne de la paroi inférieure du bidon ;
• . on répartit les bidons en au moins un groupe de bidons adjacents, par rangée verticales et/ou rangées horizontales,
• . on connecte chaque groupe de bidons avec une alimentation en eau, en connectant, pour chaque groupe, un premier tuyau d'un côté à une alimentation en eau et de l'autre côté à l'orifice raccordé à la conduite interne d'un premier bidon dudit groupe, en connectant un deuxième tuyau d'un côté à l'autre orifice dudit premier bidon et de l'autre côté à l'orifice raccordé à la conduite interne d'un deuxième bidon immédiatement adjacent, et ainsi de suite jusqu'au dernier bidon de chacun desdits groupes de bidons;
• . on remplit les bidons de la paroi, par montée progressive du niveau dans les bidons ainsi connectés, ce qui forme la paroi de protection biologique recherchée ;

la vidange desdits bidons s'effectuant ensuite en fin d'utilisation de la paroi, par raccordement des premiers tuyaux à un réservoir de syphonage, avant démontage de ladite paroi.The invention also provides a method of forming a removable biological protection wall against ionizing radiation, characterized in that:

• . vertically stacked and / or juxtaposed empty liquid retention cans, vertically nestable and / or adjoinable side by side laterally, each container having a vertical front wall or an upper wall provided with two orifices located in the upper part of said wall, and a pipe internal to the container connected on one side to one of said orifices and opening on the other side in close proximity to the internal surface of the bottom wall of the container;
• . the cans are divided into at least one group of adjacent cans, by vertical row and / or horizontal rows,
• . we connect each group of cans with a water supply, by connecting, for each group, a first pipe on one side to a water supply and on the other side to the orifice connected to the internal pipe of a first can of said group, by connecting a second pipe on one side to the other opening of said first container and on the other side to the opening connected to the internal pipe of a second immediately adjacent container, and so on until last container of each of said groups of containers;
• . the cans of the wall are filled, by gradual rise in the level in the cans thus connected, which forms the desired biological protection wall;

the emptying of said cans then taking place at the end of use of the wall, by connection of the first pipes to a siphon tank, before dismantling of said wall.

• la figure 1 est une vue latérale en coupe d'un mode de réalisation d'un bidon selon l'invention ;
• la figure 2 est la vue de face du bidon de la figure 1 ;
• la figure 3 est une vue schématique, en perspective, d'une paroi de protection biologique contre les rayonnements ionisants selon le mode de réalisation de l'invention plus particulièrement décrit ici.

The invention will be better understood on reading the following description of a particular embodiment given by way of non-limiting example. The description refers to the accompanying drawings in which:

• Figure 1 is a side sectional view of an embodiment of a container according to the invention;
• Figure 2 is the front view of the container of Figure 1;
• Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view of a biological protection wall against ionizing radiation according to the embodiment of the invention more particularly described here.

Figures 1 and 2 show an embodiment of a container according to the invention, for retaining a liquid 2, for example water, for biological protection against ionizing radiation 3 emitted from the side 4 of the container.

The canister 1 comprises a substantially parallelepipedal enclosure 5 made of a material resistant to irradiation, for example made of high density polyethylene, arranged moreover to support a weight of several hundred kilos (for example 350 kg), and an internal pressure of 7 to 8 bars without deformation.

The enclosure 5 comprises four lateral, flat, vertical walls, namely two lateral, longitudinal walls 6 and 7, a transverse rear wall 8 and a transverse front wall 9.

The enclosure 5 also comprises an upper wall 10 (10 ′) and a lower wall 11 of complementary shape suitable for allowing vertical interlocking between two superposed cans 1 and 1 ′. The upper wall 10 comprises an end part 12, projecting outwards relative to the enclosure provided with a front face 13, substantially rectangular, constituting the upper part 14 of the front wall 9 of the container.

The end part 12 has a constant section in the longitudinal direction of the container, and a rear part 15 in inclined plane with an angle between about 30 ° and about 60 ° with the horizontal.

In the embodiment more particularly described here, the lower and upper walls moreover have forms of slopes arranged in particular to facilitate the ascent of the air bubbles towards the upper part of the container.

The lower and upper walls being of complementary shape, only the latter will be described.

A first downward slope substantially from the front wall of the container is provided, comprising a first slightly inclined or horizontal part, a second very inclined part constituted by the rear part 15 of the projecting end 12, and a third part 16 to slight slope, for example one or two degrees with the horizontal, up to the wall 8.

The wall 10 also has a downwardly sloping surface from a central edge 17 passing through the central longitudinal vertical plane 18 of the container, for example 2 or 3 degrees with the horizontal.

In order to allow good placement of the cans on top of each other, and to avoid any risk of slipping from one relative to the other, it is also provided, a few centimeters from each of the four corners of the upper wall, four identical substantially cylindrical pins 19, for example 0.5 cm in diameter and 1 cm in height suitable for cooperating with four cells 20 of complementary shape with the pins, provided on the lower wall 11.

The front face 13 has two vertically superimposed orifices 21 and 22, located in the plane 18, which will allow both filling, emptying and venting of the container during these operations.

The lower orifice 21 is connected to a pipe 28, internal to the enclosure, opening at 24 in the immediate vicinity of the internal upper surface 25 of the lower wall 11 of the container.

The pipe 18 is for example made of brass or plastic, fixed in a non-removable manner to the orifice 21. It is terminated at 24 by a beveled end.

The pipe is arranged obliquely in the container as shown in FIG. 2 in phantom in order to open out at the bottom point 26 of the container, and therefore forms an angle of a few degrees, for example 15 ° with the central longitudinal vertical plane 18 from the can.

The projecting part 12 is symmetrical and centered relative to the plane 18.

It is of substantially rectangular shape. The face 9 also comprises means 27 for manually gripping the container, for example comprising two handles 28 and 29, in a manner known per se.

The face 9 also has a lower part 30 of complementary shape to the front face 13 of its upper part 14, as this results from the complementary shape of the lower wall 11 with the upper wall 10.

By way of example, a container as described above may have a height of 60 cm, a width (transverse dimension) of 33 cm, and a length (longitudinal dimension) of 43 cm.

The thickness of the wall is for example 0.5 cm, possibly reinforced in a manner known per se to better withstand load and pressure. The internal pipe 23 can be 2 cm in diameter, just like the orifices 21 and 22. The projection 12 has a rectangular face of 15 cm by 10 cm, the distance between the front face and the junction between the end of the rear part 15 with the rest 16 of the upper wall, being of the order of 20 cm.

A can of this type weighs around 4 kg empty for around 90 kg filled with water.

It is therefore easy to handle manually when empty for an operator.

FIG. 3 schematically shows a wall 31 of biological protection against ionizing radiation 32, emitted by a source placed at the rear 33 of the wall.

The wall 31 comprises several cans of the type described above, for example six vertical columns of five cans, or five horizontal rows of six cans.

In the embodiment of Figure 3, each column forms a group (34, 34 ', 34' ', ...) of canisters connected with each other. To do this, the wall includes connection means (35, 35 ', 35' '...) of the canisters of the same group between them for filling and emptying of the canisters by siphonage.

The first group 34 of canisters will be described below, the other groups being produced in an identical manner.

The means 35 comprise a set of pipes, namely a first pipe 36 which can be connected on one side 37 to at least one water supply 38, via a pressure regulator (not shown) or to a siphon tank (not shown), and connected on the other side 39 to the lower orifice connected to the internal pipe of a first container 40, a second pipe 41 connected on one side to the other orifice 42 of the first container 40 and on the other side 43 to the orifice connected to the internal pipe of a second container 44, a third pipe 45 connected on one side 46 to the other orifice of the second container 44 and on the other side 47 to the orifice connected to the internal pipe of a third container 48, and so on for containers 49 and 50 of the same vertical column 34.

The wall 31 further comprises a vertical frame 51 comprising two lattice angles 52. Each angle comprises a horizontal plate 53 in lattice, for example rectangular formed by two parallel beams 54 and 55 rigidly connected by three crosspieces 56, 56 ', 56' 'parallels.

The external end cross member 56 '' supports, at the end, a vertical scale of width and height slightly greater respectively than the longitudinal dimensions of the cans, and vertical of the column of cans. The ladder comprises for example two vertical beams 57 joined for example by seven parallel bars 58.

Two stiffening arms 59, inclined, connecting the end 60 of the part 53 to each beam 57, about two thirds of their height, stiffen the angle.

Finally, in the embodiment described here, two crosspieces 61 connect the vertices of the vertical ladders, in order to close the chassis on itself. Protective plates (not shown) are also provided and fixed in a manner known per se to the chassis, for example in a padlockable manner.

The weight of the cans on the lower plates provides perfect stability for the entire wall.

We will now describe the implementation of a wall according to the invention with reference to the embodiment of Figure 3 more particularly described here.

The operators of the radio protection service, responsible for preparing protection before the intervention of operators near an irradiating source, proceed as follows.

The chassis 51 is firstly mounted in a manner known per se. The front stiffening cross member 59 is simply omitted at first, so as to be able to place the cans in the chassis.

Then, the operators stack vertically and juxtapose laterally, manually, the empty retention cans, by nesting them one on the other, then connect the sets of pipes, as indicated above. Pipe sets can be associated with a group of horizontal canisters or a group of vertical canisters, or both.

The connections are also arranged to minimize the pressure losses at the connections, the pipe bends also being provided accordingly.

Then fill the cans of each group, for example, through a pressure reducer to avoid overpressure in the cans.

The water rises in the first container 40 to the orifice above, passes through the connection pipe 41 and fills the second container passing through the internal pipe, and so on.

Once all the cans have been filled, the stiffening crosspieces 59 are put in place, then the protective plates and possibly the means for blocking and locking said plates by padlock.

A biological protection wall is thus formed, for example 2.50 m by 2 m, in record time for assembly, for example of the order of thirty minutes.

Taking into account the thickness of water traversed by the radiation, within the framework of the embodiment more particularly described with the canister dimensions as indicated above, a reduction by a factor of 10 on the flow rate is thus obtained. of absorbed dose by the operators located behind such a device.

At the end of use of the wall, simply connect the first pipe of each group to a siphon tank. The internal arrangement of pipes and their cascade connection allows each group of containers to be emptied automatically by siphoning.

The wall is then removed by reversing the assembly operations.

As is obvious and as it follows moreover from the foregoing, the present invention is not limited to the embodiment more particularly described.

• les bidons de protection contre les rayonnements ionisants présentent des parois inférieures et supérieures de forme différente de celle plus particulièrement décrite ;
• les bidons sont agencés pour constituer une paroi horizontale comme un plancher.

On the contrary, it concerns all variants and in particular those where:

• the canisters for protection against ionizing radiation have lower and upper walls of a shape different from that more particularly described;
• the cans are arranged to constitute a horizontal wall like a floor.

In the latter case, protective plates are placed on a structural frame, above the cans connected with each other. The plates which can be gratings, thus allow the movement of operators on the wall, in a manner known per se. The retention container, for its part, has four vertical side walls, namely two longitudinal side walls, a transverse rear wall and a transverse front wall and on the other hand a horizontal lower wall and an upper wall having a projecting part provided with two orifices which will allow filling and emptying by siphonage of the container via the internal pipe as described above.

In the latter case, the manual gripping means are provided on the upper wall of the container.

Claims (13)

1. Container (1) for holding a liquid (2) for a biological shield against ionizing radiation, comprising a vessel (5) for holding the liquid, which is substantially parallelepipedal and includes, on the one hand, four vertical side walls, namely two longitudinal side walls (6, 7), a transverse rear wall (8) and a transverse front wall (9), and, on the other hand, a bottom wall (11) and a top wall (10), characterized in that the front vertical side wall or the top wall is provided with two apertures (21, 22) located at the top part (14) of the said front wall or on a projection of the top wall in relation to the container and in that the container includes, internal to the said vessel, a pipe (23) connected on one side to one (21) of the said apertures and opening on the other side in the immediate vicinity of the internal surface (25) of the bottom wall (11) of the said vessel.
2. Container according to Claim 1, characterized in that the vertical front wall (9) is provided with means (27) for gripping the container.
3. Container for holding a liquid for a biological shield against ionizing radiation, according to either of Claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the transverse front wall (9) is provided with the said apertures (21, 22) in the top part (14), the bottom wall (11) and the top wall (10) having complementary shapes suitable for allowing two superimposed containers (1, 1') to be fitted together vertically.
4. Container according to Claim 3, characterized in that the top wall (10) of the vessel (5) includes an end part (12), projecting outwards in relation to the vessel, the front face (13) of which forms the top part (14) of the front wall (9), provided with the said apertures (21, 22), of the container.
5. Container according to Claim 4, characterized in that the front face (13) of the projecting end part of the top wall is centred in relation to the central longitudinal vertical plane (18) of the container.
6. Container according to any one of Claims 3 to 5, characterized in that the bottom wall (11) and top wall (10) have a downward sloping surface starting approximately from the front wall of the container.
7. Container according to any one of Claims 3 to 6, characterized in that the aperture (21) connected to the internal pipe is located beneath the other aperture (22).
8. Container according to any one of Claims 3 to 7, characterized in that the bottom wall and top wall have a downward sloping surface starting from a central ridge (17) passing through the central longitudinal vertical plane (18) of the container.
9. Container according to any one of Claims 3 to 8, characterized in that the top wall (10) and bottom wall (11) have, respectively, at least one projecting stud (19) and one cavity (20) of shape complementary to the said stud, these being arranged so that the stud of a first container fits into the cavity of a second container when two containers are vertically superimposed.
10. Wall (31) for a biological shield against ionizing radiation, characterized in that it includes several containers (40, 44, 48, 49, 50, etc.) according to any one of Claims 1 to 9, these containers being placed horizontally side by side and/or fitted vertically into one another, constituting at least one group (34, 34', 34", etc.) of containers and, for each group, means (35, 35', 35", etc.) for connecting the containers together in order to fill and drain the said containers by siphoning, the said means comprising an associated set of hoses, the said set comprising a first hose (36) which can be connected on one side (37) to a water supply (38) or to a siphoning reservoir and which is connected on the other side (39) to the aperture connected up to the internal pipe of a first container (40) of the said group, a second hose (41) connected on one side to the other aperture (42) of, the first container and on the other side (43) to the aperture connected up to the internal pipe of a second container (44) of the said group, a third hose (45) connected on one side (46) to the other aperture of the second container (44) and on the other side (47) to the aperture connected up to the internal pipe of a third container (48) of the said group, and so on until the last container of each of the said groups of containers.
11. Wall for a biological shield against ionizing radiation according to Claim 10, characterized in that it is vertical and in that it includes, in addition, means for holding the vertically stacked containers in place and for stabilizing them, these means comprising a vertical frame (51) which includes at least one element (52) substantially in the form of a latticed angle section having a bottom horizontal leg (53) on which a first, bottom, row of containers rests, the said horizontal leg being connected to a side vertical leg (57) adjoining a vertical end column of containers, at least one end of the bottom leg being rigidly joined to one side of the vertical leg by an inclined stiffening arm (59).
12. Wall for a biological shield against ionizing radiation according to either of Claims 10 and 11, characterized in that it includes, in addition, container-shield plates which are fixed in a removable and advantageously padlockable fashion, to a frame or the said vertical frame associated with the containers.
13. Method of forming a removable wall for a biological shield against ionizing radiation according to Claims 10 to 12, characterized in that:

    . the containers are stacked vertically and juxtaposed laterally;

    . the containers are distributed in at least one group of adjacent containers, by vertical rows and/or horizontal rows;

    . each group of containers is connected to a water supply by connecting, for each group, a first hose on one side to a water supply and on the other side to the aperture connected up to the internal pipe of a first container of the said group, by connecting a second hose on one side to the other aperture of the said first container and on the other side to the aperture connected up to the internal pipe of an immediately adjacent second container, and so on until the last container of each of the said groups of containers;

    . the containers of each group are filled by means of a pressure-reducing valve, progressively raising the level in the containers thus connected, thereby forming the desired biological shield wall;

    the said containers being subsequently drained, after the wall has been used, by connecting up the first hoses to a siphoning reservoir, before dismantling the said wall.

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