General Electric Company

Bernt R Gaertner

Roy C Challberg

Richard A Wolters

David L Faulstich

Bishara E Kakunda

John D Wilford

Karim-Panahi Khosrow

William J Knowles

Methods and apparatus for moving fuel bundles in a reactor pressure vessel (RPV) of a nuclear reactor are described. In one embodiment of the apparatus, a support tube facilitates the positioning of a multiple channeled magazine within the RPV, especially at locations adjacent fuel bundles. In the one embodiment, the support tube extends in the reactor pressure vessel into the area above the top guide. A magazine assembly is coupled to the support tube, and includes a magazine having a plurality of fuel bundle receiving channels. The magazine extends from the support tube so that it is adjacent the fuel bundles and the top guide. Grapples extend through the magazine channels, engage the fuel bundles, and retract the bundles into the magazine channels. The magazine and support tube, and thus the bundles, are then moved.

Methods and apparatus for moving fuel bundles in a nuclear reactor

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Peterborough, Canada

Bernt R Gaertner