Fuel assembly

Abstract

A fuel assembly, particularly, a fuel assembly including short-length fuel rods and fuel spacers, is used for a boiling water reactor, which is capable of sufficiently reducing the pressure loss of at least one of the fuel spacers positioned above the upper ends of the short-length fuel rods, irrespective of the arrangement of the short-length fuel rods, and also ensuring the structural strength of the fuel spacer. The fuel assembly includes fuel rods located in a square lattice array, two water rods arranged in a region in which seven of the fuel rods are arrangeable, two fuel spacers for holding the fuel rods and the water rods with mutual intervals kept immovable. Each of the fuel spacers includes cells which are connected to each other and in which the fuel rods are to be inserted, respectively, and a band for surrounding the outermost peripheries of the cells. The short-length fuel rods include four first short-length fuel rods arranged in the outermost peripheral region of the square lattice array. One of the fuel spacers, positioned upward from the upper ends of the short-length fuel rods, is configured such that the cells located at lattice positions associated with the first short-length fuel rods are removed and instead supporting members, each being adapted to connect two of the cells adjacently located on both sides of each of the lattice positions in the outermost peripheral region to the band, are provided at the lattice positions.