Patent ID: 8009789

Claim:
Storage device for storing and transporting nuclear fuel assemblies, said device comprising a plurality of adjacent compartments, each having a lateral wall and being capable of receiving a nuclear fuel assembly, said lateral walls being made using notched structural units that are stacked and crisscrossed, wherein each unit comprises: two spaced-apart flats made of a neutrophage material; an intermediate structure situated between the flats, said intermediate structure comprising: two bars arranged between said two flats without being mechanically jointed to said flats; and a plurality of spacers in contact with said two flats, arranged in a spaced apart manner along the length of said two bars, each spacer being rigidly jointed to the two flats at its two ends, respectively, said two bars orthogonal to the direction of stacking of the structural units, wherein said intermediate structure of each structural unit includes two steel bars spaced apart from each other by spacing means that includes the plurality of spacers and wherein each of the plurality of spacers are penetrated through by fasteners joining them rigidly to the two flats of the structural unit.