Fragema

Joseph Leclercq

Michel Bonnamour

Jean N Canat

Jean-Noel Canat

A fuel assembly for nuclear reactors comprising a skeleton having two end pieces connected together by elongate elements and several grids spaced apart along the guide tubes and forming cells for holding a bundle of fuel elements in position at the nodes of a regular lattice. The grids comprise median grids adapted for resisting lateral shocks and having fins for creating turbulences in the flow of the coolant along the assembly, bottom grids without fins and ensuring the cross bracing of the elements and top grids with fins and ensuring cross bracing of the elements, the top and bottom grids imposing on the coolant a pressure loss lower than the median grids.

Fuel assembly for nuclear reactors

A nuclear fuel assembly comprises a bundle of elongated fuel rods distributed at nodes of a regular lattice and a structure for retaining said fuel rods. The structure has a lower end piece, and upper end pieces, tie rods connecting said end pieces and grids distributed along the tie rods for maintaining the fuel rods at the nodes. The structure consists of two substructures slidable with respect to each other in the direction of the fuel rods. Springs located between the two substructures spread apart the two end pieces for respective abutment against a lower core plate and an upper core plate.

Nuclear fuel assembly with holding structure and hold down device

A nuclear fuel assembly for a spectral shift reactor has an upper end piece and a lower end piece secured to a structural element belonging to the upper end piece by guide tubes arranged for receiving a cluster of control elements. The upper end piece further comprises a support member arranged for receiving said cluster at the end of the fall thereof, means for guiding said support member. The support member is guided for movement parallel to the axis of the guide tubes. Springs are contained within the end piece and disposed between the structural member and the plate for braking the cluster at the end of the fall thereof.

Upper end piece for nuclear fuel assemblies

A hold down device for a nuclear reactor of the type in which a plurality of assemblies are disposed between an upper plate and a lower plate, which hold down device comprises a member having at least two resilient means, for example leaf springs which, when the device is placed between the top of a first fuel assembly and the upper plate, and downward pressure is applied to the member, are applied against fuel assemblies adjacent the first fuel assembly.

Hold down device for a nuclear reactor

A nuclear fuel assembly comprises two end pieces connected by guide tubes. Grids are distributed along the guide tubes and define passages distributed according to a regular pattern. Some of the passages receive the tubes. Other passages retain fuel elements parallel to the tubes. Individual sleeves containing a burnable poison are carried by the tubes, each in a space bounded by one grid on one side, by an other grid or an end piece on the other side. The length of the sleeves is selected for allowing differential thermal expansion of the tubes and grids. One end of each sleeve may be secured to lugs of an associated grid.

Growing community of inventors

Saint Didier au Mont D'or, France

Joseph Leclercq