The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 08, 1988
Filed:
Jul. 15, 1987
Harry M Ferrari, Edgewood, PA (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
Nuclear fuel elements are provided that are resistant to pellet-clad interaction. The closed end nuclear fuel elements comprise a zirconium or zirconium alloy tube that has a layer of lubricant, preferably graphite, on the inner surface thereof, and enriched uranium dioxide pellets that have a coating on the outer surface thereof of a thickness sufficient to absorb fission products. The coating on the pellets may be a burnable absorber or a material that has a relatively low neutron absorption compared to a burnable absorber. The combination of the layer on the tube and the coating on the pellets reduces both the stress level and the concentration of damaging fission products that would contact and react with the layer of lubricant about the inside surface of the tubular cladding and thus reduces conditions for pellet-clad interaction.