General Electric Company

Global Nuclear Fuel - Americas, LLC

Global Nuclear Fuel-japan Co., Ltd.

Cary L Kunz

Russell M Fawcett

Russell Edward Stachowski

Robert B Elkins

Anthony P Reese

Lukas Trosman

Roland Otto Jackson

John Frederick Schardt

Daisuke Goto

Robert A Rand

Shingo Fujimaki

Peter J Savoia

Sten O Akerlund

Russell E Stachowski

A reactor fuel bundle includes both full-length fuel rods and part-length fuel rods. The part-length rods are clumped in two groups&#x2014;a first rod group surrounds one or more water passages which are generally centrally disposed in a channel of the fuel bundle, and a second rod group is distributed about an inner perimeter wall of the channel.

Distributed clumping of part-length rods for a reactor fuel bundle

A nuclear fuel bundle has differential peak power limits for the edge or peripheral fuel rods and the interior fuel rods. Also, the magnitude of nuclear fuel in the edge or peripheral rods is decreased in comparison with the magnitude of nuclear fuel in the interior rods. The nuclear reactor can thus operate at higher power output by decreasing the margins between the power outputs and peak power limit of the interior rods, as well as by decreasing the margins between the power outputs of the edge or peripheral rods and the increased peak power limit of those rods. The outer or peripheral edge rods can also be enriched for enhanced power output.

Nuclear fuel bundle having different peak power limits

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Wilmington, NC, United States of America

Cary L Kunz