Abstract: The invention is directed to a concrete shielding housing for receiving and storing a transportable fuel element container which is suitable for storage and filled with spent nuclear reactor fuel elements. The clear interior dimensions of the concrete shielding housing are somewhat larger than the outer dimensions of the container. At least one air inlet opening is provided at the lower region of the concrete shielding housing and, at the highest location of the housing, there is provided an air outlet opening. The air outlet opening is covered by means of a roof-like cover arranged in spaced relationship to the concrete shielding housing. The air outlet opening is surrounded by plates or metal strips or the like which are securely mounted to the housing and extend upwardly in the direction perpendicular to the housing. The upper edge of these plates terminate at a small distance from the roof-like cover.

Abstract: The invention is directed to a dry storage facility for storing radioactive materials such as irradiated nuclear reactor fuel elements. The radioactive materials release heat generated by the radioactive decay and are held in gas-tight storage containers. The dry storage facility includes several storage modules for receiving the storage containers. The storage modules are arranged in the enclosure of the dry storage facility which can be in the form of a secure building or an underground storage cavern. A transport passageway extends alongside of the storage modules and a transport apparatus is arranged so as to be movable along this passageway. The storage containers are cooled in the storage modules by natural convection which is direct or indirect.

Abstract: A large-area cell for reprocessing irradiated nuclear reactor fuel elements ontains racks in which process components and connecting conduits for the latter are arranged. The arrangement of the invention connects the conduits of a rack with a plurality of supply conduits outside of the cell which have end portions that penetrate the interior wall of the cell. When the racks are assembled and disassembled, the conduits leading to the process components contained in the rack have to be disconnected from the supply conduits. The conduits should be connected and disconnected rapidly and surely by means of remotely-controlled manipulating apparatus. For this purpose, the arrangement of the invention for interconnecting conduits includes two terminal blocks each having a plurality of passages formed therein. The two terminal blocks are connected to each other by conduit segments which communicate with corresponding ones of the passages in the blocks.