Debris-retaining trap for a fuel assembly

Patent · Tue Jul 07 04:00:00 EDT 1987

OSTI ID:6260383

Rylatt, J A

A fuel assembly is described for a nuclear reactor including nuclear fuel rods, at least one grid supporting the fuel rods in an organized array, an end flowing through the end nozzle and into the fuel assembly, a trap for capturing and retaining debris carried by the flowing coolant to prevent entry of debris into the fuel assembly, the debris trap comprising: (a) a hollow enclosure disposed adjacent the end nozzle on an opposite side from the grid, the enclosure being composed of a material which is permeable to the liquid coolant but impermeable to debris carried by the coolant; (b) the hollow enclosure has upper and lower walls spaced apart and interconnected at their peripheries so as to extend across the direction of liquid coolant flow through the end nozzle and define a debris capturing the retaining chamber within the enclosure; (c) means on the hollow enclosure defining at least one opening into the chamber of the enclosure through the lower wall; (d) lower debris-retaining means located within the chamber of the hollow enclosure and surrounding the opening into the chamber, the lower debris-retaining means has a configuration which serves to retain debris carried by coolant into the chamber through the opening from exiting through the opening; and (e) upper flow-diffusing means is located within the chamber of the hollow enclosure and is spaced generally above and aligned with the lower debris-retaining means and the opening. The upper flow-diffusing means has a configuration which substantially uniformly distributes across the bottom nozzle the flow of coolant into the chamber through the opening.

• Assignee: Westinghouse Electric Corp., Pittsburgh, PA
• Patent Number(s): US 4678627
• OSTI ID: 6260383
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

22 GENERAL STUDIES OF NUCLEAR REACTORS
220300 -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Fuel Elements
220502* -- Nuclear Reactor Technology-- Environmental Aspects-- Radioactive Effluents
COOLANTS
ELECTRODES
FILTERS
FISSION PRODUCTS
FUEL ASSEMBLIES
FUEL ELEMENTS
FUEL RODS
GRIDS
ISOTOPES
MATERIALS
NOZZLES
PERMEABILITY
POWER REACTORS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
SPACE DEPENDENCE