Emergency transfer tube closure and process for sealing transfer tube under emergency conditions

In a nuclear fuel reactor well that includes a transfer tube projecting outwardly from wall thereof, the transfer tube is described having a first closure assembly. The transfer tube has a circumferential flange extending outwardly laterally therefrom, an emergency transfer tube closure therefor comprising; a pair of elongated, vertically-extending U-shaped guides, one U-shaped guide disposed laterally on each side of the transfer tube, each of the U-shaped guides comprising a base and laterally extending flanges thereon, the U-shaped guides having their open ends facing each other, a closure plate, having a surface facing the circumferential flange greater in area than the area circumscribed by the outer circumference of the circumferential flange, vertically disposed the U-shaped guides, the closure plate normally being disposed in a vertical plane just slightly in front of the vertical plane of the circumferential flange, two pairs of rollers, one pair of which is rotatably mounted on each side of the closure plate adjacent the U-shaped guides, riding on the inner portion of each of the flanges of each of the U-shaped guides. Each of the U-shaped guides is provided with a pair of spatially disposed openings on a flange thereof adjacent the wall of the nuclear fuel reactor well, each of the pairs of openings being disposed on each of the U-shaped guides a distance equal to the distance between the center lines of the corresponding pair of rollers riding within the U-shaped guides, each of the openings being sufficiently large to receive a corresponding roller of the pairs of rollers in the U-shaped guides. The openings is shaped on the flanges of the U-shaped guides so that when the pairs of rollers are disposed therein, the face of the closure plate will be in sealing engagement with the circumferential flange of the transfer tube