Fuel assembly for a nuclear boiling water reactor
AssigneeWestinghouse Electric Sweden AB
InventorsJonas Aurén, Uffe Bergmann
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A fuel assembly for a nuclear power boiling water reactor including a fuel channel defining a central fuel channel axis, fuel rods, each having a central fuel rod axis, at least 3 water channels for non-boiling water, each water channel having a central water channel axis and each water channel having a larger cross-sectional area than the cross-sectional area of (the average) fuel rod. The fuel rods include a first group of full length fuel rods and a second group of shorter fuel rods. The fuel assembly comprises 3 or 4 fuel rods which belong to said second group and which are positioned such that the central fuel rod axis of each of these 3 or 4 fuel rods is closer to the central fuel channel axis than any of the water channel axes of the water channels.
Claims14
A fuel assembly for a nuclear power boiling water reactor, comprising:
- a fuel channel extending in and defining a length direction of the fuel assembly and defining a central fuel channel axis extending in said length direction,
- fuel rods positioned such that they are surrounded by said fuel channel, each fuel rod having a central fuel rod axis extending substantially in said length direction,
- water channels positioned such that they are surrounded by said fuel channel, the water channels being configured and positioned for, during operation, allowing non-boiling water to flow through the water channels, each water channel having a central water channel axis extending substantially in said length direction,
- wherein said fuel rods comprise a first group of fuel rods and a second group of fuel rods,
- wherein each fuel rod in said first group is a full length fuel rod that extends from a lower part of the fuel assembly to an upper part of the fuel assembly,
- wherein each fuel rod in said second group is a part length fuel rod that extends from said lower part of the fuel assembly and upwards, but does not reach as high up as said full length fuel rods,
- wherein the fuel assembly comprises 3 water channels, each of which has a cross-sectional area that is at least twice as large as the average cross-sectional area of the fuel rods,
- wherein the water channels are positioned with no further water channel having its central axis closer to the central fuel channel axis than the central water channel axis of each of the 3 water channels,
- wherein the fuel assembly comprises 3 or 4, but not more than 4, second group fuel rods positioned with their central fuel rod axes being closer to the central fuel channel axis than any of the water channel axes of the water channels, and
- wherein the fuel assembly comprises no more than 3 water channels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.