Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Westinghouse Electric Company LLC

David Douglas Seel

John F Wilson

Edmund E DeMario

Paul M Evans

James M Pepka

Michael Thomas Sloop

The adaptor plate of a top nozzle assembly is removably secured to selected thimble tubes in a nuclear fuel assembly by quick release couplings. The openings in the adaptor plate aligned with the selected thimble tubes are counterbored from above to form shoulders with diametrically opposed slots extending downward through the shoulders. The quick release couplings include a sleeve secured to the upper end of the thimble tube. A support plate fixed to the sleeve has a pair of upwardly extending bosses engaging the slots in the adaptor plate. A latch member with a pair of diametrically opposed outwardly projecting latch ears rotates on the sleeve between a first position in which the latch ears are aligned with the slots and are positioned over the bosses so that the adaptor plate may be lifted off, and a second position with the latch ears overlaying the shoulder to latch the adaptor plate to the thimble tube. A spring member with a cylindrical body has a pair of diametrically opposed radially compliant projections formed by bulges in strips defined by circumferential slits spaced from the bottom edge of the cylindrical body which engage detents in the bosses to latch the latch member in the first, unlatched position even with the adaptor plate removed, and which engage detents in the opening in the adaptor plate to latch the latch member in the second, latched position.

Quick release, removable top nozzle assembly

The hold-down plate of the top nozzle of a fuel assembly is removably attached on the upper extension members of the fuel assembly guide thimbles by an improved structure associated with passageways through the hold-down plate which receive upper end portions of the guide thimble upper extension members. The improved attaching structure includes recesses on the upper end portions of the guide thimble extension members with the recesses terminating at upper terminal edges thereof, elements mounted in the upper hold-down plate and extending therefrom into the passageways of the plate and the recesses of the extension member upper end portions, and a plurality of stop members connectable on the upper end portions of the guide thimble extension members and having overhanging ledges respectively formed thereon which define upper limits of the respective recesses on the extension member upper end portions. The elements are positioned to slide upwardly along the corresponding recesses until making engagement with the ledges on the stop members when the stop members are connected on the corresponding extension member upper end portions for limiting upward movement of the upper hold-down plate along the guide thimble. Also, the elements are positioned to slide upwardly along and past the corresponding recesses when the stop members have been disconnected from the corresponding extension member upper end portions for allowing removal of the upper hold-down plate from the guide thimble.

Reconstitutable fuel assembly having removable upper stops on guide

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Columbia, SC, United States of America

David Douglas Seel