General Electric Company

Jeffrey A Wilson

David Grey Smith

Harold B King

Kevin L Ledford

Andrew A Lingenfelter

Gary S Martin

Robert K Williams

Michelle Wagner

A swirler is releasably attached to a spacer and lies in the opening through the spacer lying above a part-length fuel rod in a nuclear fuel bundle. Adjacent ferrules have upstanding tabs with loops forming part of connecting elements for releasably securing the swirler to the spacer. The spacer is mounted on a mounting ring having radially outwardly directed elements terminating in barbed ends for insertion through the loops in response to rotation of the swirler mounting ring relative to the tabs. The barbed ends can be squeezed together to release the swirler from its attachment with the spacer.

Swirler attachment for a spacer of a nuclear fuel bundle

A tube and end plug assembly include a tube having an inner diameter and an outer diameter; an end plug having a tapered body portion with minimum and maximum diameters and a radial flange adjacent the minimum diameter. The tapered body portion is located within an end portion of the tube which is in substantially continuous engagement with the tapered body portion of the plug. A related process of joining an end plug to a hollow tube having a cylindrical end portion, with inside and outside diameters, and wherein the end plug has a body portion with minimum and maximum diameters connected by a tapered surface and a radial flange adjacent the minimum diameter includes the steps of: a) inserting the end plug into the cylindrical end portion of the tube such that the radial flange engages an edge of the cylindrical end portion of the tube; b) deforming the cylindrical end portion of the tube into conformance with the tapered body portion of the end plug; and c) welding the end plug to the tube circumferentially about a joint between the radial flange and the edge.

Reverse taper end plug

A window in the control rod for a nuclear reactor has flanges along its opposite sides. A latch handle has slots along its opposite sides. The latch handle is sized and configured such that in a first angular orientation, the latch handle may be received within the plane and peripheral confines of the window and, upon rotation of the latch handle through 90.degree. into a second orientation, engages the slotted sides of the latch handle with the flanges of the window to capture the latch handle within the window while simultaneously enabling linear vertical movement of the latch handle relative to the window. The latch handle is then attached to a shaft for operating a coupling mechanism between the control rod and the control rod drive.

Latch handle for a control road in a nuclear reactor

Growing community of inventors

Wilmington, NC, United States of America

Jeffrey A Wilson