WO2004059658A1 - Methode et dispositif de chargement de pastilles de combustible nucleaire - Google Patents
Methode et dispositif de chargement de pastilles de combustible nucleaire Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- WO2004059658A1 WO2004059658A1 PCT/BE2002/000202 BE0200202W WO2004059658A1 WO 2004059658 A1 WO2004059658 A1 WO 2004059658A1 BE 0200202 W BE0200202 W BE 0200202W WO 2004059658 A1 WO2004059658 A1 WO 2004059658A1
- Authority
- WO
- WIPO (PCT)
- Prior art keywords
- sheath
- pellets
- loading
- column
- loaded
- Prior art date
Links
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G21—NUCLEAR PHYSICS; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING
- G21C—NUCLEAR REACTORS
- G21C21/00—Apparatus or processes specially adapted to the manufacture of reactors or parts thereof
- G21C21/02—Manufacture of fuel elements or breeder elements contained in non-active casings
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y02E30/00—Energy generation of nuclear origin
- Y02E30/30—Nuclear fission reactors
Definitions
- the present invention relates to a method and a device for loading nuclear fuel pellets in successive columns in a metal sheath previously provided with a first plug at one of its two ends.
- a nuclear fuel rod generally consists of a metallic sheath made of zirconium alloy or stainless steel, fuel pellets, most often a uranium oxide or uranium / plutonium, a retaining spring and two welded end caps.
- the assembly of welded sheath and plugs ensures the sealing of the pencil and the confinement of nuclear materials vis-à-vis the external environment.
- These pencils are filled with an inert gas (most often helium) to ensure the transfer of the heat produced by the pellets to the sheath, and can be pressurized or not.
- the clearance between the pellets and the sheath is limited, typically of the order of 150 - 200 ⁇ m for light water reactors.
- the management policy for electricity producers and designers of nuclear fuel aims to seek increasingly high rates of exhaustion during charging and leads manufacturers to produce in particular MOX fuel (or Mixed Oxide, a mixture of uranium oxide and plutonium oxide), with increasingly high fissile plutonium contents and with plutoniums of civil origin having an increasingly degraded isotopic composition.
- MOX fuel or Mixed Oxide, a mixture of uranium oxide and plutonium oxide
- fissile plutonium contents and with plutoniums of civil origin having an increasingly degraded isotopic composition.
- This degradation of the isotopic composition increases the specific activity of these plutoniums (in particular the activities ⁇ , ⁇ , ⁇ , neutrons) and requires increased protection of personnel and equipment.
- MOX fuel rods typically require that loading operations take place in sealed (for example, glove box type) and shielded containments . It follows that, for these reasons and to increase industrial productivity, a large number of operations, if not all, are carried out in a mechanized and / or automated manner with a minimum of direct human intervention.
- the loading method be as little as possible sensitive to blockages caused by splinters or dust likely to be entrained by the pellets themselves and / or to be produced during the loading operations themselves.
- the loading method must operate without excessive or unnecessary effort on the pellets, which would risk producing additional splinters or damage to the pellets, detrimental to the quality of the rods and to their behavior in reactor in particular, that is to say that the pastilles are excessively damaged, that is to say that these fragments create unacceptable spaces between pastilles.
- the method of loading the pellets into the sheath aims to limit the parts of the sheath exposed to contamination and the extent of this contamination.
- the loading method must be designed to avoid causing contamination in the sheath and must aim to avoid decontamination operations by liquid, due to the increased risk of criticality and the production of liquid effluents.
- the present invention aims to remedy the drawbacks mentioned above and others known to those skilled in the art, and for this purpose proposes a method which favorably influences the operations for manufacturing pencils as well as the quality of the products produced in organizing in particular a particular guidance of the pellets as far as the sheath without the latter being able to touch the open end of the sheath and advantageously without unnecessarily mechanically stressing said pellets.
- the following is carried out: a correction of the offsets between a support and the open end of the sheath, and an alignment of the axis of the pellets with the axis of the sheath, using a channel whose bottom has a V-shaped profile in continuous ramp and at intersection with a cylindrical outlet to the diameter of the pellets, centering of the sheath in a chamber centered on the cylindrical part of the channel,
- the loading of the pellets into the sheath is ensured in columns which are successively introduced therein, so that the last patch of each column is pressed into the sheath to a depth at least equal to the length of the next column to be loaded into the same sheath.
- This arrangement is advantageous in that, until it is entirely in the sheath, each column undergoes only a moderate effort and that this does not increase significantly when said column comes into contact with the previous (s), only when it is already inside the sheath and therefore well guided.
- This arrangement like the following two, contributes to implementing reduced forces on the pellets: limitation of the thrust forces during loading,
- the present invention also relates to a device for presenting, centering and aligning the pellets during loading into the sheath, in particular for implementing the method according to the invention.
- the device consists of a fixed metal part crossed by a channel whose dimensions of the inlet are chosen to accept an offset of the pellets with respect to the axis of the sheath and of which the bottom has a V-shaped profile in continuous ramp and at intersection with a cylindrical outlet to the diameter of the pellets, and provided with a cylindrical chamber with the diameter of the sheath and centered on the cylindrical outlet of the channel, has dimensions and tolerances adapted to dimensions of said pellets and sheath, and such that the diameter of the cylindrical part of the channel is less than the inside diameter of the sheath, in order to hide the end of the sheath from the pellets, and optionally has longitudinal and / or transverse clearances and nozzles to blow gas in the opposite direction to the direction of loading and / or suck up dust and chips.
- Figure 1 shows in axial section an embodiment of a fuel rod whose sheath can be loaded with pellets by implementing the invention.
- FIG. 2A shows in a perspective view an embodiment of a device for loading fuel rods of the invention.
- FIG. 2B shows exemplary embodiments of longitudinal and transverse clearances and of gas nozzles G.
- FIGS. 3A to 3F show in a plan view the different stages of a sequence of loading the successive columns of pellets in the sheath, for implementing the invention.
- FIG. 3A also shows a device for limiting the thrust forces.
- a pencil 1 (FIG. 1) concerned by the invention may include, as already mentioned and as is known, a sheath 2 plugged at one end by a first plug 3 and at the other end by a second plug 4. Between these plugs 3 and 4 can be enclosed in the sheath 2 of the pads 6, a spring 7 and structural components, such as one or more intermediate elements 5.
- the device and the method for loading pellets 6 into a aforementioned sheath 2, object of the invention, are explained jointly in the present description due to their complete reciprocal nesting.
- the method of the invention consists, in a sheath 2 provided beforehand with a first plug 3 at one of its two ends, at ( Figures 2): - present, center and align the pellets 6 in columns 12 at the open end 34 of the sheath 2, in position and in orientation in order to avoid mechanical jamming, - remove from the column 12 of pellets 6 the dust and chips brought by and / or adhering to the loaded pellets, and / or generated by the operations of presentation, centering and alignment.
- the pellets 6 are guided, with a view to their alignment and centering, using a channel 42, the bottom of which has a V-shaped profile in a continuous ramp (T + U) and in intersection with a cylindrical outlet. (Y) 48 to the diameter of the pellets 6, as described in detail below.
- the sheath 2 is centered in a chamber (Z) 49 centered on the cylindrical part (Y) 48 of said channel 42.
- the open end 34 of the sheath 2 is masked from each pad 6 being loaded, in order to avoid massive contamination of the part of the sheath 2 close to its open end 34 and additional interference and mechanical blockages.
- This masking also prevents the formation of contamination on the open end face 34. Aerosols, dust and flakes are trapped and / or collected and / or discharged, via free sections between pellets 6 and walls of the channel 42 and / or clearances, by gravity deposition and optionally by blowing and / or complementary suction.
- These dusts and chips which are either brought by said pellets 6 during loading, or produced during the loading operation itself could otherwise lead to jamming of the pellets 6 during their introduction into the sheath 2 or to discarded pencils, if introduced into the sheath.
- FIGS. 3B, 3E the pellets 6 of a column 12 are advantageously driven into the sheath 2 to a depth of introduction of the last pellet 6 of this column 12 into the sheath 2, at least equal to the length of the next column 12 to be loaded into the same sheath 2.
- FIG. 3B shows the column 12a in its depressed position, leaving a free space to receive the column 12b according to FIGS. 3D, 3E.
- the pushing force on a column is limited to the only pushing force of the latter.
- the loading of said pellets 6 in successive columns 12 into said sheath 2 is preferably carried out by limiting the maximum thrust forces on the columns 12 during said loading, as a function of the depth of introduction and of the order N (N ranging from "a" to "e” by way of example in FIGS. 3) of column 12 being loaded in the same sheath 2.
- N the order of the order of column 12 being loaded in the same sheath 2.
- the thrust is adjusted so that it is of a certain level single maximum to bring the successive columns 12a-e into the sheath 2 ( Figure 3D); the thrust is further adjusted to move the train of columns to another variable maximum level as a function of the number of columns already loaded.
- Loading the pellets into a vacuum sheath 2 from a chamber itself under vacuum significantly reduces the efforts made, as well as the contamination generated by the expulsion of any gas contained in the sheath by the pellets that are loaded there.
- This loading under vacuum also makes it possible to avoid having to subsequently draw a vacuum in or having to rinse the sheath 2 loaded with pellets 6, in order to replace the gas present with an inert gas, during the operations of fitting the plug 4 and welding.
- Direct helium loading provides comparable advantages due in particular to its low dynamic viscosity.
- the device of the invention for the presentation, centering and alignment of pellets 6 for loading into a sheath 2 is intended in particular for the implementation of the method of the invention, described above.
- This device called a loading device, has a fixed guide element
- This guide element 14 has dimensions and tolerances adapted to the dimensions of said pads 6 and sheath 2, and such that the diameter of the cylindrical part (Y) 48 of the channel 42 is less than the inside diameter of the sheath 2, in order to hide the transverse face of the end of the sheath 2 from the pellets 6.
- This guide element 14 can additionally have longitudinal clearances and / or transverse and nozzles G for blowing a gas in a direction opposite to the direction of loading and / or sucking up dust and splinters.
- pellets 6 are most often presented in columns 12 on a fixed V or on a plate 38 V-groove and movable transversely relative to the sheath 2, as shown in Figures 3.
- the V-shaped profile of the channel 42 successively has a square inlet on tip (T) 44 and a section with square section on tip (U) 46 and in continuous reduction in cross section.
- the square entry on point 44 allows significant lateral and vertical clearances to the pads (up to 1 to 2 mm) in order to accept misalignments of multiple origins (for example, vertical and horizontal misalignments of the V of the groove plate 38 presenting the columns 12 of pellets).
- the section of square section on point (U) 46 has continuously decreasing dimensions in cross section in order to center and gradually align the pellets 6 relative to the sheath 2.
- Various reduction laws can be achieved with numerically controlled machines modern, for example from a linear reduction leading to a truncated pyramid, up to a non-linear reduction, for example quadratic as shown in FIGS. 2, allowing to catch important misalignments on short lengths thanks to the changes of slope of a curved trajectory.
- the cylindrical outlet (Y) 48 and cylindrical chamber (Z) 49 have a diametrical tolerance of -0 / +0.01 mm and a sufficient reciprocal concentricity (for example better than 0.01 mm), depending on the clearances available between pads 6 and sheath 2. Longitudinal and / or transverse grooves or clearances can also be machined in the part 14 to contribute to the trapping of dust and splinters.
- the device of the invention may also comprise (FIGS. 3), for the above-mentioned loading of the pellets 6, a drive means 50 for the latter, comprising a long pusher 53 and with sensitive drive, with axial displacement caused by a clearance rollers 56 fitted with a force limiter 54 with low inertia and driven by a motor 52 whose force is limited as a function of the depth of introduction and of the order N of the column 12 of pellets being loading in the same sheath 2.
- the pusher 53 itself consists of a hollow rod 53 of low mass and of length adapted so that the depth of introduction of the last pellet 6 of a column 12 loaded in the sheath 2 is at less equal to the length of the next column 12 to be loaded into the same sheath 2.
- three methods can be used separately or in combination: - load the pellets 6 under vacuum or under a gas with low dynamic viscosity (for example helium) in order to limit the back pressure in the sheath 2 during the insertion of the columns 12 of pellets.
- a gas with low dynamic viscosity for example helium
- the free volume between the first pad 6 inserted and the closed end of the sheath 2 gradually decreases with the loading of the pads 6 and can be canceled at the end of loading in some pencil drawings.
- the gas pressure drop which is evacuated through the clearance between the pellets 6 and the sheath 2 increases at the same time with the elongation of the total column of the pellets 6 introduced.
- the structural elements other that the retaining spring 7 and the second end plug 4 and such as insulation pads, cover pads, "getters”, spacers, spacers, ... are loaded at the same time as the fuel pellets, to using the same method and device of the invention.
- the reduction of the thrust speed of the train of columns of pellets can advantageously be carried out for the last column or columns loaded.
- the loading device of the invention can be used for the direct introduction of the pellets into the sheath, as for the centering and alignment of these in any intermediate device provided before the sheath.
- the invention is in particular applicable to the manufacture of fuels based on uranium oxide, with or without consumable poison, as well as to new types of nuclear fuels based on actinides other than uranium (nitrides or uranium / plutonium carbides, fuels without fertile matter intended for incineration reactors or actinide transmitters, MOX based on thorium / plutonium, MOX with consumable poison or not, ).
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
- Plasma & Fusion (AREA)
- General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- High Energy & Nuclear Physics (AREA)
- Monitoring And Testing Of Nuclear Reactors (AREA)
Abstract
Description
Claims
Priority Applications (3)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/BE2002/000202 WO2004059658A1 (fr) | 2002-12-24 | 2002-12-24 | Methode et dispositif de chargement de pastilles de combustible nucleaire |
US10/540,030 US20060188053A1 (en) | 2002-12-24 | 2002-12-24 | Method and device for loading nuclear fuel pellets |
AU2002357414A AU2002357414A1 (en) | 2002-12-24 | 2002-12-24 | Method and device for loading nuclear fuel pellets |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/BE2002/000202 WO2004059658A1 (fr) | 2002-12-24 | 2002-12-24 | Methode et dispositif de chargement de pastilles de combustible nucleaire |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
WO2004059658A1 true WO2004059658A1 (fr) | 2004-07-15 |
Family
ID=32660510
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
PCT/BE2002/000202 WO2004059658A1 (fr) | 2002-12-24 | 2002-12-24 | Methode et dispositif de chargement de pastilles de combustible nucleaire |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
---|---|
US (1) | US20060188053A1 (fr) |
AU (1) | AU2002357414A1 (fr) |
WO (1) | WO2004059658A1 (fr) |
Families Citing this family (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
FR2861888B1 (fr) * | 2003-10-29 | 2008-02-29 | Franco Belge Combustibles | Procede de fabrication de pastilles de combustible nucleaire |
CN114496324A (zh) * | 2021-12-13 | 2022-05-13 | 中国核电工程有限公司 | 一种弹簧自动装管装置及*** |
Citations (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3735550A (en) * | 1971-01-11 | 1973-05-29 | Babcock & Wilcox Co | Loading of fuel rods |
US3907123A (en) * | 1973-05-31 | 1975-09-23 | Exxon Nuclear Co Inc | Fuel rod pellet loading head |
US4292788A (en) * | 1980-02-11 | 1981-10-06 | General Electric Company | Nuclear fuel rod loading apparatus |
JPS58215596A (ja) * | 1982-06-09 | 1983-12-15 | 原子燃料工業株式会社 | 核燃料棒の製造方法とその装置 |
EP0391642A2 (fr) * | 1989-04-04 | 1990-10-10 | General Electric Company | Système de chargement pour les barres de combustible nucléaire |
-
2002
- 2002-12-24 WO PCT/BE2002/000202 patent/WO2004059658A1/fr not_active Application Discontinuation
- 2002-12-24 US US10/540,030 patent/US20060188053A1/en not_active Abandoned
- 2002-12-24 AU AU2002357414A patent/AU2002357414A1/en not_active Abandoned
Patent Citations (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3735550A (en) * | 1971-01-11 | 1973-05-29 | Babcock & Wilcox Co | Loading of fuel rods |
US3907123A (en) * | 1973-05-31 | 1975-09-23 | Exxon Nuclear Co Inc | Fuel rod pellet loading head |
US4292788A (en) * | 1980-02-11 | 1981-10-06 | General Electric Company | Nuclear fuel rod loading apparatus |
JPS58215596A (ja) * | 1982-06-09 | 1983-12-15 | 原子燃料工業株式会社 | 核燃料棒の製造方法とその装置 |
EP0391642A2 (fr) * | 1989-04-04 | 1990-10-10 | General Electric Company | Système de chargement pour les barres de combustible nucléaire |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
AU2002357414A1 (en) | 2004-07-22 |
US20060188053A1 (en) | 2006-08-24 |
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