Grid structure for fuel rod consolidation canister
This patent describes a nuclear fuel rod consolidation system comprising a box and grid combination for consolidating fuel rods by funneling an initially loosely packed rectangular array of fuel rods into a more tightly packed rectangular array of fuel rods, the combination including: an upright, elongated tapered box having a front, a back, and two side panels, and a grid structure mounted within the box for receiving the loosely packed, rectangular array of fuel rods into the upper end of the grid and urging the fuel rods into a tightly packed rectangular array at the lower end of the grid, the grid structure having a multiplicity of flat, vertically oriented trapezoidal segments interconnected to form a plurality of vertically overlapping grid layers, each overlapping layer oriented transversely to the other, the layers having alternating row and column orientation and forming a substantially continuous honeycomb of longitudinal cells, the cross-sectional area of each cell decreasing from the uppermost layer to the lowermost layer such that when the fuel rods are inserted through respective individual cells at the top of the grid structure, the fuel rods are funneled by the cells to form the tightly packed array.
- Assignee:
- Combustion Engineering, Inc., Windsor, CT
- Patent Number(s):
- US 4659535
- OSTI ID:
- 6806315
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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