Shipping container for a nuclear fuel assembly

Abstract

A shipping container is provided for a hexagonal nuclear fuel assembly including a top nozzle having a top end, an outer barrel, an external shoulder, and an inner barrel; a plurality of grids which support fuel rods; and a bottom nozzle having an internal shoulder within a recess, a spherical taper, and a bottom end. The container may include a housing, a support for the fuel assembly, a top nozzle holder secured to the support, plural grid supports secured to the support, plural clamping frames for clamping the grids, plural guide plates for guiding the fuel assembly between adjacent grid supports, and a bottom nozzle holder secured to the support. The top nozzle holder may include a shoulder holder for holding the external shoulder, an end holder for enclosing and holding the top end, and a shoulder clamp for clamping the shoulder holder to the support. The shoulder holder may include a resilient split ring for positioning around the inner barrel and a resilient split support for encasing the resilient split ring. The grid supports may each include two wedges for supporting two sides of the grid, a base plate for fixedly supporting the two wedges thereto, a bearing pad fixedly mounted to the support for slidably supporting the base plate, and shoulder screws for limiting a sliding motion of the base plate on the bearing pad. The guide plates may have a guide side and two surfaces for guiding the two sides of the grids. The guide plates may further have an absorbing side having a coating of gadolinium oxide. The bottom nozzle holder may include a recess holder for holding the internal shoulder. The recess holder may include a wedge mechanism for wedging against the bottom nozzle within the recess and a moving mechanism for moving the wedge mechanism within the recess. The recess holder may also include plural grippers for gripping the internal shoulder and a cam mechanism for moving the grippers.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.