Combustion Engineering, Inc.

Richard H Young

Andrew J Anthony

Malcom D Groves

A fuel rod for a nuclear reactor is described. The fuel rod contains a zirconium alloy cladding tube, with a thin coating of a burnable poison which has been plasmaarc sprayed on the inside diameter of the cladding tube. Also described is a plasma-arc spraying device and a method for applying a coating to the inside of a small-diameter metal tube.

Zirconium alloy tube with a boron-containing layer

Repaired fluid conveying tubes are tested for leaks by isolating the repaired region from the remainder of the tube and then pressurizing the isolated region with a suitable gas. The isolation is accomplished by axial compression of one or a pair of seals which expand radially when subjected to axial force.

Leak detection method and apparatus

A nuclear reactor control rod containing a stack of B.sub.4 C absorber pellets in which the pellets in the lower end have a radius smaller than that of the other pellets and are wrapped with a sleeve having a linear compressibility sufficient to accommodate exposure-induced radial expansion of the end pellets without producing excessive clad strain and having a thermal conductivity sufficient to keep the centerline temperature of the end pellets below the melting point of B.sub.4 C. One such sleeve material is a type 347 stainless steel having 22.5% theoretical density.

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Canton, CT, United States of America

Richard H Young