KR101750330B1 - High integrity container for radioactive waste disposal - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a high-integrity container for radioactive waste that packs radioactive waste in a state of ensuring safety and soundness in accordance with regulatory requirements. The present invention relates to a radioactive waste disposal apparatus comprising a contents container having a storage space for radioactive waste and having a first spiral engagement portion formed on an inner circumferential surface of an upper side thereof and an inlet of the contents container being closed to prevent leakage of the radioactive waste, A polyethylene lid having a second helical engaging portion formed on an outer circumferential surface thereof so as to be coupled with an exhaust valve for discharging gas generated in a storage space of the content container, the polyethylene lid having a filling space formed inside the inner circumferential surface thereof, A polymer concrete layer which is filled in a mortar state and then hardened to shield radiation generated from the radioactive waste and a polymer concrete layer which is bonded onto the polymer concrete layer in a mortar state before the polymer concrete layer is hardened to protect the polymer concrete layer from external impact An outer shell, and an upper surface portion And a polyethylene cover formed flat and disposed over the outer shell.

Description

{High integrity container for radioactive waste disposal}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a container for packaging radioactive waste, and more particularly, to a high-integrity container for radioactive waste that packs radioactive waste in a state of ensuring safety and soundness meeting regulatory requirements.

Radioactive waste inevitably generated in the nuclear industry should have safety and soundness in accordance with the regulatory requirements for handling and disposal, except extremely low-level emissions. Methods for securing the safety and soundness of radioactive waste are solidification and packaging in a high-integrity container (High Integrity Container, HIC), which has already secured safety and soundness. It first started in the United States in 1981 to use the same concept of high - In Korea, Ministry of Science and Technology Notice No. 2005-18, "Regulations on the Management of Medium and Low-Level Radioactive Waste", "High-potency Container" is a kind of waste packaging container. It is more than 300 years in terms of contents and general underground environment and disposal conditions of our country. And to be recognized as having ".

Prior art documents related to containers for radioactive waste include those disclosed in Patent Document 1 (Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0877397) and Patent Document 2 (Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0087793) .

The high-integrity container disclosed in Patent Document 1 is composed of a drum and a cover, and in particular, the cover is formed of polyethylene which is threadedly coupled to an inlet portion made of polyethylene for sealing the drum. In this way, the inlet of the drum is sealed by the cover which is coupled with the thread, but it is difficult to secure the stability against the impact applied to the container by the cover alone and the sealing / shielding performance is also unsatisfactory. Especially, There is a problem that the risk of gas explosion can not be prevented in advance because it is not provided with a structure capable of discharging it to the outside.

In the case of the radioactive waste packaging container disclosed in Patent Document 2, there is also shown a construction in which a sealing portion to be coupled by threading is coupled to the upper end of the body portion. However, the sealing portion consists of only the structure in which the first plate and the second plate are formed in the upper and lower portions, Like the container of Document 1, there is a problem that the impact resistance and the shielding performance are insufficient and the gas inside the container can not be released.

Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0877397 (published on Jan. 17, 2009) Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2014-0087793 (published on July, 2014)

As described above, the conventional high-integrity container for radioactive waste is difficult to ensure stability against impact applied to the container, has a poor sealing / shielding performance, and has a structure capable of discharging gas generated inside the container to the outside There is a problem that the risk of gas explosion can not be prevented in advance.

The present invention has been developed in order to solve the problems of the prior art, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a container having improved shock stability to a container, excellent sealing / shielding performance and easily releasing generated gas inside the container to the outside, It is an object of the present invention to provide a high-integrity container for radioactive waste.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a radioactive waste disposal system comprising: a contents tank having a storage space for radioactive waste and having a first spiral coupling portion formed on an inner circumference of an inlet on an upper side thereof; A polyethylene lid equipped with a second helical engagement portion on the outer circumferential surface so as to be spirally engaged with the one helical engagement portion, an exhaust valve formed inside the inner circumferential surface of the inner circumferential surface to form a filling space for discharging gas generated in the storage space of the content container, A polymer concrete layer which is filled in the filling space of the polyethylene lid in a mortar state and hardened to thereby shield the radiation generated from the radioactive waste and a polymer concrete layer which is bonded onto the polymer concrete layer in a mortar state before the polymer concrete layer is hardened, An outer shell protecting the polymer concrete layer, And a polyethylene cover which is formed on the outer shell so that the upper surface is flattened so as to be able to support the high-integrity container for radioactive waste.

In the present invention, the polyethylene lid may be provided with a block which is formed in a shape protruding upward from the filling space and can act as a tool for spirally joining the polyethylene lid to the container.

In the present invention, the polyethylene lid is provided with a block which is formed in a shape protruding upward from the filling space and can act as a tool for spirally joining the polyethylene lid to the container, and the block has a coupling groove And the bottom surface of the polyethylene lid may be formed with an engaging protrusion protruded to be engaged with the engaging groove.

In the present invention, the bottom surface of the outer shell may be provided with protrusions which are inserted into the polymer concrete layer in a mortar state before the polymer concrete layer is hardened.

The exhaust valve according to the present invention is characterized in that the exhaust valve includes a valve body having a gas flow path formed therein, an upper cap having a gas outlet connected to an upper end of the valve body and communicating with the gas flow path, And a compression spring arranged in the gas passage of the valve body to normally close the gas passage while compressing the compression spring by the pressure of the gas generated from the storage space of the contents container, A valve for opening the flow path; a filter provided in the valve body for blocking inflow of moisture from the outside and for filtering the gas discharged from the storage space of the content container; And a lower cap coupled to a lower end of the valve body, It can be.

In the high-integrity container for radioactive waste according to the present invention having the above-described structure, since the entrance of the content container is closed with the multiple structure by the polyethylene lid, the polymer concrete layer and the outer shell, the radiation shielding performance is improved, Can be increased.

In addition, since the high-integrity container of the present invention is discharged to the outside by the exhaust valve when the gas generated in the inside of the container reaches a certain pressure, the risk of gas explosion and the like can be prevented beforehand, It is effective.

1 is a cross-sectional view of an embodiment of a high-integrity container for radioactive waste according to the present invention, in which components are broken down.
FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view showing the state in which the embodiment of FIG. 1 is installed in the outer container in the combined state. FIG.
3 is a perspective view showing a polyethylene lid constituting the embodiment of FIG.
4 is a perspective view showing an outer shell constituting the embodiment of FIG.
5 is a bottom section perspective view showing a polyethylene lid constituting the embodiment of FIG.
6 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of an exhaust valve provided in the container of the present invention.
7 is an exploded view of the exhaust valve of Fig.
8 is a cross-sectional view showing the state in which the exhaust valve of Fig. 6 is in the exhaust operation state.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be understood that the following embodiments are provided so that those skilled in the art can understand the present invention without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention. It is not.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing an embodiment of a high-integrity container for radioactive waste according to the present invention, in which components are broken down. FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a state where the embodiment of FIG. Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing a polyethylene lid constituting the embodiment of Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a perspective view showing an outer shell constituting the embodiment of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a cross- Fig. 6 is an exploded view of the exhaust valve of Fig. 6, Fig. 8 is a view showing the state in which the exhaust valve of Fig. 6 is in the exhaust operation state Fig.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 8, the embodiment of the high-integrity container for radioactive waste according to the present invention is characterized in that the inlet 11 of the content container 10, which receives the radioactive waste, 10). The components will be described in detail as follows.

First, the content container 10 has a storage space 10a for storing radioactive waste. An inlet 11 for inputting radioactive waste into the storage space 10a is formed on the content container 10 . The content container 10 may be made of polyethylene or the like and is wrapped by an outer container 20 made of a material capable of shielding radiation such as polymer concrete as shown in FIG. On the inner circumferential surface of the inlet 11 of the content container 10, a first helical engaging portion 11a capable of helical coupling is formed.

The polyethylene lid 30 is coupled to the inlet 11 of the content container 10 to close the inlet 11 of the content container 10 to prevent the radioactive waste from flowing out of the container 10. The polyethylene lid 30 is provided with a second helical engaging portion 31 on the outer circumferential surface thereof so as to be helically engaged with the first helical engaging portion 11a provided in the content container 10, (Not shown). A plurality of (in this embodiment, four) blocks 33 formed in a shape protruding upward from the bottom of the filling space 32 may be formed in the filling space 32. These blocks 33 To facilitate the actuation of a tool to rotate the polyethylene lid 30 so that the second spiral engagement portion 31 is spirally engaged with the first spiral engagement portion 11a of the inlet 11 of the container 10. [

In order to ensure the airtightness and the watertightness, the polyethylene lid 30 and the inlet 11 of the contents container 10 are provided with a circular shape between the polyethylene lid 30 and the inlet 11 of the contents container 10 when the polyethylene lid 30 is joined to the inlet 11 side of the contents container 10. [ It is preferable that the gasket 40 is interposed.

On the other hand, the polyethylene lid 30 is equipped with an exhaust valve 50 for releasing gas generated in the storage space 10a of the content container 10. [ The exhaust valve 50 allows the fluid to flow out from the storage space 10a of the content container 10 but blocks the flow of the fluid into the storage space 10a of the content container 10 from the outside And it is preferable to be installed at the center of the polyethylene lid 30. A specific embodiment of the exhaust valve 50 is shown in Figs. 6 and 7. Fig.

The exhaust valve 50 illustrated in Figs. 6 to 8 includes a valve body 51 and an upper cap 52, a compression spring 53, a ball 54, filters 55 and 56, a lower cap 57 . The valve body 51 may be made of stainless steel and has a gas passage 51 formed therein. The upper cap 52 includes a gas outlet 52a communicating with the gas passage 51, 51 by a helical coupling structure or the like. A compression spring 53 is coupled to the coupling end 52b of the upper cap 52 and a compression spring 53 is coupled to the upper cap 52 When the compression force is applied in a state of being coupled to the bottom portion of the main body, the restoring force to restore the original state is exhibited. The ball 54 is arranged to have a diameter larger than the cross-sectional diameter of the gas passage 51 of the valve body 51 and to be seated without falling off the upper end of the gas passage 51. Since the upper end of the gas passage 51 is opened toward the gas outlet 52a of the upper cap 52, the ball 54 is normally seated in the upper end of the gas passage 51 When the gas flows into the gas passage 51 as the pressure of the gas generated in the storage space 10a of the container 10 rises, As the compression spring 53 is compressed, the gas flows upward to open the gas passage 51, so that the gas is discharged to the outside through the gas outlet 52a. The filters 55 and 56 are installed in the valve body 51 to block the inflow of moisture from the outside and filter the gas discharged from the storage space 10a of the content container 10. [ In the present embodiment, the filters 55 and 56 include a waterproof filter 55 for blocking external inflow of water, a secondary filter (not shown) for filtering out the external moisture while filtering the gas in the storage space 10a (56). The lower cap 57 is connected to the lower end of the valve body 51 to perform a blocking treatment and is provided with an inlet port through which the gas generated from the storage space 10a of the container 10 flows into the interior of the valve body 51 (57a).

The polymer concrete layer 60 is then filled in the filling space 32 of the polyethylene lid 30 in a mortar state. The polymeric concrete layer 60 is filled in the filling space 32 of the polyethylene lid 30, The radioactive waste generated in the radioactive waste stored in the storage space 10a of the content container 10 is shielded by the radioactive waste to maintain high soundness.

The polymer concrete layer 60 is protected from external impact on the polymer concrete layer 60 in a mortar state before the polymer concrete layer 60 is poured into the filling space 32 of the polyethylene lid 30 in a mortar state The outer shell 70 is engaged. The outer shell 70 may be made of, for example, carbon steel. The outer shell 70 is provided with a protruding portion 71 which is inserted into the polymer concrete layer 60 in a mortar state before the polymer concrete layer 60 is hardened, The polymeric concrete layer 60 can be more firmly bonded to the polymeric concrete layer 60. The outer shell 70 is formed with a first through hole 72 through which the exhaust valve 50 provided in the polyethylene lid 30 can be exposed upward and the blocks 33 of the polyethylene lid 30 are raised upward Second through holes 73 are also formed which can be exposed.

On the outer shell 70, a polyethylene cover 80 having a flat top surface is disposed to prevent groundwater from being deposited in the container when loading high-integrity containers in a radioactive waste repository.

The block 33 of the polyethylene lid 30 may be formed with a coupling groove 33a which is embedded in the vertical direction. The bottom portion of the polyethylene lid 80 is inserted into the coupling groove 33a, By forming the engaging projections 81, the polyethylene lid 80 can be stably positioned without being moved on the outer shell 70.

In the high-integrity container for radioactive waste according to the present invention having the above-described structure, since the inlet 11 of the content container 10 is closed by the multiple structure, the stability against external impact can be enhanced, and the radiation shielding performance is also improved . That is, the radioactive waste contained in the storage space 10a of the content container 10 is blocked from being discharged by the polyethylene lid 30 installed at the inlet 11 of the content container 10, and the radiation generated from the radioactive waste It is possible to maintain high integrity by being shielded by the polymer concrete layer 60 filled in the filling space 32 provided in the polyethylene lid 30. Even if an impact is applied to the inlet 11 side of the container 10 from the outside, the polyethylene lid 30 and the polymer concrete layer 60 are securely protected by the rigid rigidity of the outer shell 70, . Furthermore, since the polyethylene cover 80 having the flat upper surface is disposed on the outer shell 70, it is possible to prevent the groundwater from getting caught in the container when the high-integrity containers are loaded in the radioactive waste repository.

Meanwhile, since the high-integrity container of the present invention is discharged to the outside by the exhaust valve 50 when the gas generated inside the content container 10 reaches a certain pressure, the risk of gas explosion can be prevented in advance Which is advantageous for long-term high-quality. That is, when the gas generated from the radioactive waste contained in the storage space 10a of the content container 10 reaches a predetermined pressure, the gas flows into the gas passage 51 of the exhaust valve 50 as shown in FIG. 8 The ball 54 is moved upward while compressing the compression spring 53 so that the gas flow path 51 is opened so that the gas is discharged through the gas discharge port 52a of the upper cap 52 It is possible to prevent the explosion due to the rise of the gas pressure in the storage space 10a of the content container 10 to a predetermined pressure or more. Normally, since the ball 54 of the exhaust valve 50 closes the gas passage 51, not only external moisture or foreign matter is prevented from flowing into the storage space 10a of the container 10, The external moisture and the like are blocked by the filters 55 and 56 and the gas discharged to the outside is filtered so that the storage space 10a of the content container 10 can be safely maintained.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, This is possible.

10: Content container 10a: Storage space
11: inlet 11a: first spiral coupling portion
20: outer container 30: polyethylene lid
31: second spiral coupling portion 32: filling space
33: Block 33a: Coupling groove
40: gasket 50: exhaust valve
51: valve body 51a:
52: upper cap 52a: gas outlet
52b: coupling end 53: compression spring
54: ball 55: waterproof filter
56: secondary filter 57: bottom cap
57a: Inlet 60: Polymer concrete layer
70: outer shell 71:
72: first through hole 73: second through hole
80: polyethylene cover 81: engaging projection

Claims (5)

A container having a storage space for radioactive waste and having a first helical joining portion formed on an inner circumferential surface of an inlet on an upper side;
Wherein a filling space is formed inside the inner circumferential surface of the inner circumferential surface of the inner circumferential surface of the outer circumferential surface of the inner circumferential surface of the inner circumferential surface, A polyethylene lid equipped with an exhaust valve for releasing gas generated in the storage space of the content container;
A polymer concrete layer filled in a filling space of the polyethylene lid in a mortar state and then hardened to shield radiation generated from the radioactive waste;
Before the polymer concrete layer hardens, the polymer concrete layer is bonded onto the polymer concrete layer in a mortar state to protect the polymer concrete layer from external impact. In the bottom part, the polymer concrete layer is pinched into the polymer concrete layer in a mortar state An outer shell provided with a protrusion which becomes a protrusion;
And a polyethylene cover formed on the outer shell such that an upper surface thereof is flat formed so as to prevent underground water accumulation.
The method according to claim 1,
Characterized in that the polyethylene lid is provided with a block which is formed in an upwardly protruding form from the filling space and is capable of acting a tool for spirally coupling the polyethylene lid to the contents container.
The method according to claim 1,
The polyethylene lid is provided with a block protruding upward from the filling space and capable of acting as a tool for spirally coupling the polyethylene lid to the container, and the block has a coupling groove formed in the up and down direction ,
Wherein a bottom surface of the polyethylene lid is formed with an engaging protrusion protruded to be engaged with the engaging groove.
delete The exhaust system according to claim 1,
A valve body having a gas flow path formed therein;
An upper cap coupled to an upper end of the valve body and having a gas outlet communicating with the gas channel;
A compression spring coupled to a bottom surface of the upper cap to exert a restoring force upon compression;
A ball disposed in the gas flow path of the valve body and normally closing the gas flow path to open the gas flow path while compressing the compression spring by the pressure of the gas generated from the storage space of the content unit;
A filter installed in the valve body to block the inflow of moisture from the outside and to filter the gas discharged from the storage space of the content container;
And a lower cap coupled to a lower end of the valve body and having an inlet through which gas generated from the storage space of the container is introduced into the valve body.

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