Fuel assembly with consumable poison, and a method of operating a reactor
AssigneesFramatome, Compagnie General des Matieres Nucleaires
InventorsJean-Michel Romary, Michel Bonniaud
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The fuel assembly for a pressurized water reactor comprises rods distributed at the nodes of a square array and containing the fuel material. Some of the rods have a first mass concentration of gadolinium lying in the range 5% to 12%. Four to twelve additional rods (16) contain gadolinium at a concentration lying in the range 0.5% to 2%.
Claims10
A fuel assembly for a pressurized water reactor, the assembly comprising rods distributed at the nodes of a square array and containing a fuel material, some of said rods having a first concentration of gadolinium lying in the range 5% to 10% by weight, wherein four to twelve rods other than said some of the rods have a second concentration of gadolinium lying in the range 0.5% to 2% by weight.
A fuel assembly for a pressurized water reactor, comprising a plurality of fuel rods distributed at the nodes of a 15.times.15 square array, each of said rods having a sheath and containing fuel material,
- wherein four to twenty of said fuel rods have a first concentration of gadolinium lying in the range 5% to 12% by weight, and
- wherein four to twelve other ones of said fuel rods have a second concentration of gadolinium lying in the range 0.5% to 2% by weight and are regularly distributed in a peripheral row of said array.
A core of a pressurized water reactor comprising a plurality of fuel assemblies distributed in a square array, each of said fuel assemblies comprising a plurality of fuel rods distributed at the nodes of the square array, some of said fuel assemblies containing partially burnt-up fuel and remaining ones of said fuel assemblies being new fuel assemblies;
- wherein first ones of said new fuel assemblies are devoid of gadolinium;
- second ones of said new fuel assemblies are located close to the periphery of the core and include eight fuel rods having a content of gadolinium in a range between 5 and 12% and four fuel rods having a content of gadolinium between 0.5 and 2%, the other fuel rods being devoid of gadolinium;
- and
- remaining ones of said new fuel assemblies include sixteen fuel rods having a concentration of gadolinium in a range of 5% to 12% by weight and four fuel rods having a concentration of gadolinium in a range of 0.5 to 2% by weight, the other fuel rods being devoid of gadolinium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.