Patent Number: 046876006
Section: abstract

A treating process for the separation of coated nuclear fuel particles from a graphitic matrix in which the nuclear fuel particles are embedded, which is employed in an installation for the conditioning of graphitic fuel elements of high-temperature nuclear reactors. The graphite which encompasses the nuclear fuel particles is conducted away through the action of a brush which isolates the nuclear fuel particles together with their coatings or the nuclear particles themselves, and wherein the nuclear fuel particles which are contained in the brushed product are then separated from the comminuted graphite. The nuclear fuel particles are worked out of the graphitic matrix through the action of the bristles of the brush which conduct the graphite away, but in which the coated nuclear fuel particles when they are contained within hard coatings or the nuclear fuel particles themselves, remain preserved. The worked out nuclear fuel particles are separated from the comminuted graphite fraction through the delivery of the brushed product into a sifter which is passed through by a separating gas, and in which the fine-grained fraction is conveyed away together with the gas stream.