Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Christopher K Wu

Clarence D John, Jr

George D Bucher

Erich W Tiepel

Francis Cellier

Hemant H Shah

Arnold S Kitzes

Lee E Brecher

David M Batson

Wendell L Johnson

John E Steinkirchner

Paula J Larouere

John C Limpert

Robert T Graulty

Robert A Williams

An automated fuel rod production system includes a radioactive powder fabrication and processing stage, a pellet fabrication stage, a pellet processing stage, a tube preparation stage and a fuel rod fabrication and inspection stage, all of which provide a continuous (paced) mode of operation from the conversion of a radioactive gas to powder, through the fabrication of the powder into pellets, to completion of the assembly of the fuel rods. Extra capacity is designed into the system at critical points in the powder processing and pellet fabrication and processing stages to facilitate the continuous, paced mode of operation.

Manufacturing automation system for nuclear fuel rod production

Water is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen by reacting it with iodine and sulfurous acid to produce hydrogen iodide and sulfuric acid. The hydrogen iodide is decomposed to produce the hydrogen product and the iodine. The sulfuric acid is decomposed to produce water and sulfur trioxide. The sulfur trioxide is decomposed to produce sulfur dioxide and the oxygen product. The sulfur dioxide is reacted with water to produce the sulfurous acid.

Decomposition of water

A process for reducing the volume of spent organic radioactive ion-exchange material which has been used for conditioning water circulated through a nuclear reactor. The spent radioactive ion-exchange material is removed from the reactor system and inserted into a dryer, where the residual free water and some of the intrinsic water in the ion-exchange material is removed so that the ion-exchange material has a moisture content less than 50% by weight. The dried ion-exchange material is then inserted into a fluid bed reactor, a carrier gas is inserted into the reactor and fluidizes the ion-exchange material, and the ion-exchange material is heated. The heating thermally decomposes the ion-exchange material, producing an effluent gas, which contains the volatile decomposition products. The carrier gas and the effluent gas are removed from the fluid bed reactor. After the thermal decomposition, or pyrolysis, is completed, the insertion of the carrier gas into the reactor is stopped and an oxygen-containing gas is inserted into the reactor. The remaining ion-exchange material is burned with the oxygen-containing gas, and a volume reduction of approximately 20:1, depending on the inorganic species loading, is obtained from the original settled bed volume of ion-exchange material to the end product.

Volume reduction of spent radioactive ion-exchange material

Growing community of inventors

Wilkins, PA, United States of America

Christopher K Wu