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Title: Remotely handled disassembly of the KNK-2 fast breeder fuel elements

Conference · · Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States)
OSTI ID:5431778
;  [1]
  1. Kernforschungszentrum Karlsruhe (West Germany)

The KNK-2 facility in Karlsruhe, Federal Republic of Germany is a sodium-cooled experimental nuclear reactor that primarily serves as a test bed for fast breeder fuel elements. A first fast core operated from 1977 until 1982; a second has been in test operation since 1983. The spent fuel of the two cores will be reprocessed in the SAP-TOR plant at Marcoule, France. According to the acceptance specifications of the reprocessing plant, the fuel elements of the KNK-2 cores have to be disassembled into single fuel pins, and the pins must be packed into special vacuum-tight transport capsules. This work, which serves also for postirradiation examinations of the fuel elements and pins, will be done in the hot cell facility of the Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center. Special remotely handled devices have been developed and tested in recent years for that purpose. The disassembly device was installed in the hot cell facility in early 1986 and has been used successfully to disassemble four KNK-2 fuel elements containing defective pins.

OSTI ID:
5431778
Report Number(s):
CONF-891103-; CODEN: TANSA
Journal Information:
Transactions of the American Nuclear Society; (United States), Vol. 60; Conference: Winter meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and nuclear power and technology exhibit, San Francisco, CA (United States), 26-30 Nov 1989; ISSN 0003-018X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English