Patent ID: 8630384

Claim:
A container for storing or transporting spent nuclear fuel, the container comprising: a plurality of tubes that receive spent nuclear fuel assemblies, each tube having four sidewalls and four corners defining a rectangular cross section, the four sidewalls forming a continuous inner sidewall; an attachment means for attaching respective pairs of a plurality of corners of the tubes to each other, at least one corner of a first one of the tubes engaging another corner of a second one of the tubes, the attachment means comprising a plurality of recesses in respective ones of the corners and a plurality of rods that are positioned in the recesses between respective engaged ones of the corners, wherein each of the rods is a cylinder having a single cylindrical wall, the cylindrical wall of each of the rods contacting at least two recesses associated with at least two of the tubes; each engaged corner of the first and second ones of the tubes being formed from an intersection of a first sidewall and a second sidewall, the first and second side wails being normal to each other; the first sidewall of the first one of the tubes and the first sidewall of the second one of the tubes being in substantial alignment; and the second sidewall of the first one of the tubes and the second sidewall of the second one of the tubes being in substantial alignment.