Westinghouse Electric Company LLC

Westinghouse Electric Corporation

Hemant H Shah

Edward Jean Lahoda

Peng Xu

Lu Cai

Robert L Oelrich

Jonathan Wright

Clarence D John, Jr

Yuriy Aleshin

George D Bucher

Francis Cellier

Christopher K Wu

Andrew Atwood

John E Steinkirchner

Paula J Larouere

John C Limpert

Robert A Williams

Robert T Graulty

David M Batson

Stephen H Green

Wendell L Johnson

A method of forming a water resistant boundary on a fissile material for use in a water cooled nuclear reactor is described. The method comprises mixing a powdered fissile material selected from the group consisting of UN and USiwith an additive selected from oxidation resistant materials having a melting or softening point lower than the sintering temperature of the fissile material, pressing the mixed fissile and additive materials into a pellet, sintering the pellet to a temperature greater than the melting point of the additive. Alternatively, if the melting point of the oxidation resistant particles is greater than the sintering temperature of UN or USi, then the oxidation resistant particles can have a particle size distribution less than that of the UN or USi.

Grain boundary enhanced UN and USipellets with improved oxidation resistance

Grain boundary enhanced UN and U3Si2 pellets with improved oxidation resistance

A nuclear fuel rod plenum spring assembly that has a spacer affixed to the lower end of the ground torsion spring. The spacer has a substantially flat surface on its underside that presses against the upper surface of the upper fuel pellets to spread the load of the spring over the top surface of the upper most fuel pellet.

Nuclear fuel rod plenum spring assembly

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

Growing community of inventors

Monroeville, PA, United States of America

Hemant H Shah