High performance reliability fuel pellet
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Corp.
InventorsPeter H. Beuchel, Yu C. Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A fuel pellet for a nuclear reactor fuel rod is fabricated with smooth and gently sloping surfaces having no sharp edges or areas of high stress concentration. The bearing surfaces of the fuel pellets are contoured so that the pellets are easily stacked within a fuel rod and permit pivoting action between the fuel pellets. The fuel pellets are stacked end to end in a fuel rod which is incorporated into a fuel assembly for a nuclear reactor.
Claims26
A fuel pellet for a nuclear reactor fuel rod comprising:
- a substantially cylindrical central section;
- a convex first end section smoothly joined to one axial end of said central section at a first junction, said first junction approximating a smooth and continuous curved surface;
- a concave second end section joined to said central section at a second junction, said second junction approximating a smooth and continuous curved surface, wherein the curvature of said concave second end section is conformed to the curvature of said convex first end section.
A fuel rod for a nuclear reactor comprising:
- a tubular cladding jacket means for accommodating a plurality of fuel pellets;
- a plurality of interior fuel pellets disposed in said cladding jacket, said fuel pellets each comprising:
- a substantially cylindrical interior pellet central section;
- a convex interior pellet first end section joined to said interior pellet central section at a first junction, said first junction approximating a smooth and continuous curved surface;
- a concave interior pellet second end section joined to said interior pellet central section, said second junction approximating a smooth and continuous curved surface, the curvature of said interior pellet second end section being conformed to the curvature of said interior pellet first end section;
- an end plug means, disposed at a first end of said cladding jacket means, for retaining said interior fuel pellets within said cladding jacket means;
- a spring means, disposed at a second end of said cladding jacket means, for positioning said interior fuel pellets;
- and
- a second end plug means, disposed at said second end of said cladding jacket means, for retaining said interior fuel pellets within said cladding jacket means.
A fuel assembly for a nuclear reactor comprising:
- a bundle comprising a plurality of generally cylindrical fuel rods each comprising a cladding and a plurality of control rods;
- a plurality of spacer grid means for retaining said bundle, said spacer grid means each being axially displaced from one another along a longitudinal extent of said bundle;
- a plurality of interior fuel pellets stacked end-to-end within each of said fuel rods, each of said interior fuel pellets comprising:
- a substantially cylindrical central section;
- a convex first end section joined to said central section at a first junction, said first junction approximating a smooth and continuous curved surface;
- a concave second end section joined to said central section at a second junction, said second junction approximating a smooth and continuous curved surface, wherein the curvature of said concave second end section is adapted to accommodate an adjacent fuel pellet convex first end section.
A fuel pellet for a nuclear reactor fuel rod assembly, the pellet having a substantially cylindrical longitudinal outer surface terminating at one end in an axially symmetric convex end surface and at the other end in an axially symmetric concave end surface, the end surfaces joining smoothly with the longitudinal surface, and at least a peripheral section of the convex end surface being congruent to a peripheral section of the concave end surface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.