Spherical fuel elements made of graphite for temperature reactors and process for reworking it after the irradiation
AssigneeHOBEG Hochtemperaturreaktor-Brennelement GmbH
InventorsMilan Hrovat, Hans-Joachim Becker, Hans Huschka
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Abstract
There are provided pressed spherical fuel elements for high temperature reactors made of a graphite matrix with separate embedded coated fuel and fertile material particles wherein the fuel elements comprise 3 concentric layers including a graphite nucleus or core (1) which only contains fertile material particles (4), this graphite nucleus (1) is surrounded by a graphite zone (2) which only contains the fuel particles (5) and this is encased in a shell (3) of pure graphite, the same graphite material being present in all three layers.
Claims11
A process for reprocessing a spherically shaped fuel element for high temperature reactors consisting of a graphite matrix having enbedded separately therein coated fuel and fertile material particles, said fuel element having a solid spherical nucleus containing only fertile material particles encased by graphite, a zone including the same type of graphite containing only fuel material particles encased by said graphite and concentrically surrounding both said nucleus and said fuel material particle containing zone with a concentric pure graphite shell of the same type of graphite as that in both said fertile material containing nucleus and said fuel material particle containing zone comprising burning the graphite matrix in the Head-End stage of the reprocessing in two steps in which the first step comprises burning off the graphite of the shell and the fuel containing zone and the second step comprises burning off the graphite of the fertile material containing nucleus.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.