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US 10,720,252 B2Granted
Pellet handling apparatus and fuel rod loading method
AssigneeBWXT mPower, Inc.
InventorsJeffrey T. Lee, Earl B. Barger
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A pellet magazine includes a plurality of pellet bores sized to receive pellets for loading into a fuel rod. A fuel rod loading system includes a plurality of pellet loading stations each designated to load a single pellet type into one or more pellet bores of the pellet magazine, a rod loading station configured to unload pellets from the pellet bores of the pellet magazine into a fuel rod, and a conveyance system configured to transport the pellet magazine to the loading stations and then to the rod loading station in a defined sequence.
Claims14
A system comprising:
- a pellet magazine having a plurality of pellet bores wherein each pellet bore is open at least at one end and is sized to receive and retain pellets, each pellet bore including a longitudinal slot formed therein, wherein a width of the longitudinal slot is less than a width of the pellet bore;
- a plurality of pellet loading stations wherein each pellet loading station is configured to transfer pellets of a single type into one or more pellet bores of the pellet magazine;
- a rod loading station configured to transfer pellets from the pellet bores of the pellet magazine into a nuclear fuel rod;
- and
- a conveyance system configured to convey the pellet magazine between the pellet loading stations of the plurality of pellet loading stations and then to the rod loading station in order to transfer an ordered stack of pellets from the plurality of pellet loading stations into a nuclear fuel rod.
2 more elements
An apparatus comprising:
- a pellet magazine having a plurality of pellet bores wherein each pellet bore is open at least at one end and is sized to receive and retain 235U enriched nuclear fuel pellets, each pellet bore including a longitudinal slot formed therein, wherein a width of the longitudinal slot is less than a width of the pellet bore.
A system comprising:
- a pellet magazine including a plurality of pellet bores open at least at one end and sized to receive pellets, each pellet bore including a longitudinal slot formed therein, wherein a width of the longitudinal slot is less than a width of the pellet bore;
- and
- a rod loading station including an element configured to pass into the longitudinal slots and move along the longitudinal slots to transfer pellets from the pellet bores into a fuel rod.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.