Westinghouse Electric Company LLC

Michael E Conner

Paul M Evans

Radu O Pomirleanu

Mark P Goldenfield

William R Carlson

Michael J Hone

Carroll J Long, Jr

Xiaoyan (Jane) Jiang

Keith J Drudy

Xiaoyan Jiang

Yong Lu

Jerod Parkinson

Yong (Roger) Lu

An advanced gray rod control assembly (GRCA) for a nuclear reactor. The GRCA provides controlled insertion of gray rod assemblies into the reactor, thereby controlling the rate of power produced by the reactor and providing reactivity control at full power. Each gray rod assembly includes an elongated tubular member, a primary neutron-absorber disposed within the tubular member said neutron-absorber comprising an absorber material, preferably tungsten, having a 2200 m/s neutron absorption microscopic capture cross-section of from 10 to 30 barns. An internal support tube can be positioned between the primary absorber and the tubular member as a secondary absorber to enhance neutron absorption, absorber depletion, assembly weight, and assembly heat transfer characteristics.

Advanced gray rod control assembly

A nuclear fuel assembly support grid formed from an array of a plurality of orthogonally arranged straps in an egg-crate configuration with angled trailing and/or leading edges that are designed to break the correlation of vortices shed from the edges of the grid straps by varying the phase of the vortices to avoid resonant vibration of the straps.

Nuclear fuel assembly support grid

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Elgin, SC, United States of America

Michael E Conner