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:
Feb. 19, 1991
Filed:
Jan. 27, 1989
Thomas R Freeman, Columbia, SC (US);
Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA (US);
Abstract
A nuclear fuel rod has an elongated hollow cladding tube with a pair of end plugs and fuel pellets contained in the tube and extending between the end plugs. All pellets are composed of fissile material having a single enrichment. The pellets are provided in an axial stack having a length slightly less than the distance between the end plugs such that when the tube is disposed in a vertical orientation the stack of pellets at a lower end rests on the lower end plug and at an upper end is spaced from upper end plug by a gap. The gap is devoid of any structure restraining the stack from movement toward the upper end plug. The pellets in the stack are provided in an arrangement of axial regions which includes a pair of first opposite end axial regions and second and third tandemly-disposed middle axial regions between the first axial regions. The pellets in the first opposite end axial regions are identical in number and have annular configurations with an annulus of a first void size. Pellets in the second axial region have annular configurations with an annulus of a second void size smaller than the first void size of the annulus of pellet in the first axial regions. Pellets in the third axial region have solid configurations.