GB1021953A - Improvements in or relating to syphons for radio-active liquids - Google Patents

Abstract

1,021,953. Glove boxes; handling radioactive liquid. COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE. Oct. 9, 1963 [Oct. 10, 1962], No. 39855/63. Heading B4Q. A removable syphon arrangement for discharging radio-active liquid L from a glove box A protected by a safety tank B and shielded by a lead wall C comprises a strainer 2 and a well 3 enclosing a filter 4 fitted to the floor of the glove box. An opening 5 in the well 3 is extended by a tube 6, this tube being surrounded by a shorter tube 7 also secured to the well, the tubes 6, 7 forming, respectively, parts of a principal syphon S 1 and a secondary syphon S 2 . The other syphon parts are formed by tubular portions 8, 9 interconnected by an annular wall 10, the portion 9 being welded to a threaded ring 13 screwed into a collar 15 connected to the tank B. The tubular portion 8 has orifices 11 and a closed base 12 so that liquid L flows through the strainer 2, filter 4 and tube 6 and rises in the portion 8 to leave through the orifices 11, whence it flows to an outlet pipe D, this path constituting the principal syphon S 1 . Any liquid in the safety tank B passes through the secondary syphon S 2 and then joins the liquid passing through the orifices 11. The syphon S 2 also serves as a seal and eliminates the need for a mechanical connection between glove box A and the discharge arrangement whereby the glove box may be removed by a simple lifting action. The tubular portion 9 is extended by a conical portion 17 connected to a tubular portion 18, the latter having a threaded portion 19 clamped by a ring 22 to a pipe 23. The pipe 23 is clamped by a ring 26 to the threaded portion 25 of the outlet pipe D. Shielding of lead is provided by a collar 27, a pair of conical sections 28, 28a fixed by screws 30 to the wall C, a pair of sections 33, 33a, a pair of sections 34, 34a held together by a releasable band 36 and a pair of sections 37, 37a. In order to remove the syphons, the band 36 is removed permitting removal of the sections 34, 34a, and 33, 33a. The portion 18 is rotated to unscrew the portion 9 from the collar 15 so that the portion 17 is supported by a recess 32a in the sections 28, 28a. A carriage having a jack is placed beneath the syphons and the jack raised to support the sections 28, 28a, whereupon the screws 30 are removed. On lowering the jack the sections 28, 28a are also lowered having supported thereon the syphons S 1 , S 2 surrounded by the collar 27.