Patent Number: 047045396
Section: abstract

An apparatus for transportation, positioning and sealing a container used for receiving irradiated fuel from beneath a loading and unloading pit of a nuclear installation including a cart which is successively brought through a hall underneath a loading preparation station, underneath a removal station for removing the plug from the container, and underneath a penetration shaft providing the connection between the loading and unloading pit and the hall where the cart travels. The cart includes a framework placed on a rolling platform with a sliding and rolling support therebetween, and guided between side rails on the walls of the hall. The container is placed within the framework and on a plate provided with a mechanism adjusting the height and levelness of the upper face of the container, the positioning of the container with respect to transverse and longitudinal axes taken in a horizontal plane passing through the framework and the container being obtained with the assistance of the jig fixed on the container frame and cooperating with reference axes located on the top of the cart. Armored protection plates are provided on the framework of the cart for reducing the radiations during the container loading operations, and fluid tightness between the loading and unloading pit and the container is maintained by a metallic bellows.