Fuel assembly transfer basket for pool type nuclear reactor vessels

This patent describes a nuclear reactor fuel assembly transfer basket with a side access loading an unloading port for fuel assembly transfer service within a pool type nuclear reactor vessel. It comprises: a generally vertically positioned hollow cylindrical body affixed to a manipulative depending support means movable in vertical directions and having an elongated side access port extending the length of the cylindrical body, the generally vertically positioned cylindrical body having a lower end annular base member with a conical shaped central opening concentric with the central axis of the cylindrical body extending vertically therethrough and sloping inward in the downward direction, and an upper end semicircular cap member having a central opening concentric with the central axis of the cylindrical body extending vertically therethrough with an upper annular surface sloping downward and inward towards the central opening and an adjoining intermediate portion comprising a flat horizontal semi-circular plane area extending partially around the central opening and having a peripheral vertical edge extending upward from the plane are of a partial hexagonal cross-section and an adjoining lower semicircular portion