Patent ID: 7210247

Claim:
A system for drying a cavity loaded with radioactive elements, the loaded cavity having a free volume (V F ), a starting vapor pressure (vP S ), and a cavity pressure (P C ), the system comprising: a non-reactive gas source adapted to supply a non-reactive gas to the system; means to cool a non-reactive gas to a temperature (T C ) thereby drying the non-reactive gas; means to flow the dry non-reactive gas to the cavity, the flow means adapted to introduce the dry non-reactive gas to the cavity at a flow rate R for a period of time (t); means to remove wet non-reactive gas from the cavity; wherein the non-reactive gas source, the cooling means, the flow means, the removal means, and the cavity are fluidly coupled; wherein T C and R are controlled to achieve a desired vapor pressure (vP D ) in the cavity in time t.