Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Frank J Baloh

James A Sparrow

Charles B Gilmore

John D Wood

Randy G Lott

Jeffrey P Oberst

James L Kisak

A shipping container is provided for use in containing and supporting a nuclear core component assembly, such as a control or poison assembly. The shipping container includes a separate rigid cylindrical body and lid of plastic material, a plurality of elongated tubes of plastic material, and foam plastic rigid flat cylindrical spacer plates. The tubes are inserted into the body for receiving and stabilizing elongated rods of the core component assembly. The spacer plates are disposed stationarily within and transversely across the body and spaced apart from one another axially along the body. Each plate has a plurality of openings therethrough for receiving and disposing the tubes in transverse side-by-side spaced relationship with respect to one another in, and extending between a closed bottom and an open top of, the body. The plates thus laterally space and support the rods when received in the tubes. The lid is hollow for receiving therein a common mounting structure of the assembly to which the rods are attached when the lid at its open bottom is installed the open top of the body. Also, overcentering lock mechanisms are provided on the lid and the body and are actuatable for latching and unlatching the lid to and from the body. An annular sealing gasket is disposable between the lid and the body for providing an air-tight seal therebetween upon latching the lid to the body.

Nuclear reactor core component shipping container

The leaf springs mounted in the upper nozzle of a prior art fuel assembly, which are compressed by the upper core plate to restrain the upward movement of the fuel assembly under the pressure of upwardly-flowing coolant, as dispensed with. Instead the fuel assembly is permitted to rise in a controlled manner into engagement with the upper core-support plate. The lower nozzle is provided with snubbers which engage, and exert low pressure, as required by the specifications governing a reactor, on the lower core plates when the fuel assembly is raised into engagement with the upper core plate by the force of the flowing coolant. In addition springs are provided between the pins extending from the upper and lower core plates and the walls of the holes in the upper and lower nozzles to suppress vibration under the transverse forces impressed by the flowing coolant.

Fuel assembly

A fuel assembly in a nuclear reactor has a spectral shift apparatus including a plurality of displacer rods for controlling reactivity in the assembly and an apparatus for refurbishing the displacer rods for reuse. Each displacer rod contains a quantity of water equivalent to a small fraction of the rod volume. Also, the spectral shift apparatus includes a manifold with a central plenum and a rupturable disk connected to the manifold. The manifold is connected in flow communication with the displacer rods. The disk which seals the displacer rods as well as the manifold plenum is rupturable at a given pressure differential thereacross so as to allow entry of the moderator/coolant liquid into the manifold and rods. Also, a screen adjacent the disk restricts it to rupturing in one direction only. The spectral shift refurbishing apparatus includes a charging tool insertable within the manifold plenum and separate air and water conduits interconnecting the manifold and upper and lower portions of the respective displacer rods in flow communication so as to provide respective entrance paths for air under pressure from the charging tool to the upper rod portions and separate exit paths for liquid from the lower rod portions to the charging tool such that introduction of air under pressure along the entrance paths will force liquid from the rods along the exit paths until the level of the liquid within the rods lowers to the level of the conduits in their lower portions.

Apparatus and method for refurbishing a spectral shift mechanism for a

Spectral shift apparatus and method for a nuclear reactor fuel assembly

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Dawson, PA, United States of America

Frank J Baloh