Fuel assembly for a nuclear power plant, method for activating a material to be activated and gripper
OwnerNico Vollmer, Thomas Heinz WIESEinventors
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel assembly (1) for a nuclear power plant includes at least one hollow rod (9, 9a,9b, 9c). The hollow rod is a control rod guide tube (9) of the fuel assembly (1) for the control rod assembly or an instrumentation tube. Each rod (9) is adapted to be filled with one or more containers (38) filled with material to be activated. The fuel assembly further comprises a damping element (36, 36a, 36b, 36c) at the lower end (32) of the hollow rod (9, 9a,9b, 9c).
Claims35
1-30. (canceled)
A fuel assembly for a nuclear power plant, the fuel assembly comprising:
- at least one hollow rod, the hollow rod being a control rod guide tube of the fuel assembly for the control rod assembly or an instrumentation tube, each hollow rod is adapted to be filled with one or more containers filled with material to be activated;
- and
- a damping element at a lower end of the hollow rod, the damping element being inserted into the hollow rod before loading the hollow rod with the containers.
A method for activating a material to be activated in a nuclear reactor, comprising the following steps
- providing a fuel assembly for a nuclear power plant, the fuel assembly comprising at least one hollow rod, the hollow rod being a control rod guide tube of the fuel assembly for the control rod assembly or an instrumentation tube;
- providing a plurality of containers with material to be activated;
- inserting one or more damping elements into the hollow rod;
- inserting one or more containers with material to be activated into the hollow rod;
- closing the hollow rod at its upper end;
- loading the fuel assembly into a nuclear reactor vessel;
- and
- operating the nuclear reactor for a predetermined time.
A gripper for pulling out one or more elements out of a hollow rod of a fuel assembly, the gripper comprising:
- a tube with a distal end and a proximal end, wherein the proximal end is adapted to be connected to a manipulator arm, wherein the distal end comprises an opening area forming a plane being oblique with respect to a plane orthogonal to a longitudinal axis of the tube, wherein the opening area enables that a cylindrical device may enter the tube in direction of the longitudinal axis, wherein the tube is further provided with at least one rectilinear slit extending in longitudinal direction of the tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.