Patent Number: 047449403
Section: description

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, a typical fuel rod assembly 10 includes an array of individual fuel rods 11 (180 rods are shown in FIG. 1), support grids 12, control rod guide tubes 13 and a container housing member 14. The individual fuel rods 11 (sometimes also called fuel pins) are about 0.4-0.6 inch in diameter and about 8 feet long in one type of nuclear reactor installation and the fuel rods are about 15 feet long in another type of nuclear reactor installation. The support grids 12 are spaced apart at pre-established distances along the fuel rod assembly to position and support the fuel rods. The typical form of support grid will be described in greater detail hereinafter. In the particular fuel rod assembly shown in FIG. 1, there are 16 control rod guide tubes 13 at selected sites in the fuel rod array. The tubes 13 are used to position control rods used to control the reactivity of the fuel assembly in a manner per se well known in the art. The guide tubes serve an addition and new function of guiding a fuel rod gripper during reciprocating movement as well be hereafter more fully described. The fuel rod assembly 10 is withdrawn from a nuclear reactor after the nuclear fuel within the fuel rod assembly 11 has been spent. Thereafter, the fuel rod assembly 10 is stored in appropriate storage racks under water in storage pools until its activity is dissipated. The purpose of the present invention is to move the fuel rods in the direction of the length from the fuel assembly to a consolidation fuel compacting the fuel rods 11 after their activity has dissipated and to store the fuel rods in a new and different container wherein the fuel rod spacing is altered. The fuel rods as presented in the fuel rod assembly for use in a nuclear reactors are intended to be active in the presence of slow neutrons. The fuel rods in operation are spaced apart by predetermined distances so that released neutrons can be slowed to an effective velocity for atomic reactions. Water is an effective moderator for this purpose. As the fuel rods are brought closer together, there is insufficient water between fuel rods to retard the velocity of the neutrons. Hence, the reactivity of the fuel rod assembly is reduced because the high velocity neutrons pass through the installation without sufficient retardation to cause any significant atomic collisions. Thus, the reactivity is reduced as the fuel rods are brought together. In the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, the fuel rod assembly 10 is supported beneath the water surface in a water pool by a vertically-arranged structure which can be a so-called "strong back". Beneath the fuel assembly in a spaced-apart tandem arrangement is a transition funnel 20 and therebelow a storage container 30. Initially, a suitable length of an end portion of the housing member 14 is removed so that end portions 15 of the individual fuel rods 11 and end portions 16 of guide tubes 13 are exposed. The end portion of the housing member is removed by cutting or otherwise. One way of removing the end portion is to cut the end of the housing member 14 with an air-powered underwater band saw. In some fuel rod assemblies, a lower end portion may be dismantled by removing the bolts or other fastening devices which connect it to the main frame. After the end portion of the assembly is removed, the fuel assembly is arranged so that the lower ends 15 of the individual fuel rods 11 and guide tube ends are exposed as shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 3 illustrates the spaced-apart pattern of fuel rods forming a rectangular array of fuel rods 11 with dispersed guide tubes 13 within the fuel rod assembly. The transition funnel 20 has an upper end 21 and a lower end 22. The upper end 21 as shown in FIG. 4 has a generally square grid corresponding to the array of the fuel rods 11 and guide tubes 13 as shown in FIG. 3. At the upper end 21 is a grid 23 having openings for individual tubes 24 corresponding in number and array with the exposed lower ends 15 of the fuel rods. The transition funnel tapers from its upper end 21 toward its lower end 22. At the lower end 22, the transition funnel 20 as shown in FIG. 5 has a grid 25 with openings for receiving the ends of the tubes 24 in a desired array. It will be observed that the array of the tube openings 24 in the grid 25 is an equilateral triangle--the preferred array. It will also be observed that fuel rods are relocated to occupy the sites of grid tubes 13 in the array of the fuel assembly; Below the transition funnel 20 is the container 30 having outer dimensions corresponding to the outer dimensions of the fuel rod assembly 10. The container 30 preferably is a metal rectangular box having a length slightly greater than the length of the fuel rods 11 and having sufficient cross-sectional area to receive the compacted fuel rods from the fuel rod assembly 10 in approximately half of its cross-sectional area. In one embodiment, a vertical baffle is provided to divide the container 30 into parallel chambers 32, 34. All of the fuel rods 11 from the fuel rod assembly 10 can be confined in the chamber 32 as shown in FIG. 2. All of the fuel rods from another fuel rod assembly can be confined in the chamber 34. In FIG. 2, there is schematically illustrated a spaced-apart relation between the tandem arrangement of the fuel assembly 10 and the transition funnel 20 as well as the transition funnel 20 and the container 30. According to the present invention, there is provided movable grippers which can reciprocate between gripping and releasing positions to advance fuel rods in a step-like manner from the fuel assembly. Typically, it is sufficient to reciprocate each of the grippers through a distance of 2 to 4 inches. In the space between the fuel assembly and the transition funnel, there is provided a gripper 35 which is supported and guided for reciprocating movement by the supported end portions of the guide tubes and by the same support structure which supports the fuel assembly and the transition funnel. An arm 36 extends from the gripper and the rod end of a piston and cylinder assembly 37 is secured to the arm 36. The piston and cylinder assembly is supported by a bracket 38. It is preferred to provide the same arrangement of a piston and cylinder assembly at the opposite lateral side of the gripper 35. The piston and assembly 37 forms an actuator which displaces the gripper along a rectilinear path from the position shown in FIG. 2 to a position shown by phantom lines and identified by the reference numeral 35'. In a similar manner, there is provided a movable gripper 39 for gripping fuel rods at the discharge end of the transition funnel. The gripper is guided for rectilinear movement and supported by the same support structure which supports the container 30 and the transition funnel 20. Extending from one lateral side of the gripper 39 is reciprocated from the position shown in FIG. 2 by the piston and cylinder assembly 42 to a position shown by phantom lines and identified by the reference numeral 39'. During the time while the fuel rods are advanced downwardly from the fuel assembly 10 by the gripper 35, means are preferably utilized to avoid unrestrained displacement of the fuel rods in the direction of their length. In the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 2, the means utilized for this purpose comprises the fuel assembly support grids 12 which are illustrated in greater detail in FIGS. 6-8. In this regard, the fuel rods need only be restrained against uncontrolled axial movement during displacement of the leading ends of the fuel rod from the position in which they reside when the lower end of the fuel rod assembly is removed until the array of fuel rods enters the upper end 21 of the transition funnel. Thereafter, movement of the fuel rods is constrained due frictional resistance in the transition funnel to repositioning of the fuel rods from a spaced-apart, rectangular array to a triangular array as described hereinbefore and shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, respectively. A typical support grid 12 is shown in FIGS. 6-8 and takes the form of spaced-apart, parallel plates 45 between which there is welded or otherwise secured spaced-apart, parallel plate sections 46 which form a square-shaped array of openings into which, inter alia, the fuel rods pass. As best shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, the plates 45 and plate sections 46 each has a central web section 47 formed by punching or otherwise upsetting the metal along a major face area of the plates 45 and plate sections 46. At opposite ends of the web section 47, there are smaller dimensioned upset web sections 48. Sections 47 and 48 protrude into the open spaces of the array for frictional engagement with the outer face surfaces of the fuel rods. The resistance against axial movement by the fuel rod assembly afforded by frictional engagement with the sections 47 and 48 is sufficient to prevent random and uncontrolled movement of one or more fuel rods. Even if, however, a fuel rod breaks loose from supporting engagement with the support grids, the moving fuel rod will merely enter the transition funnel where the required path of movement to undergo the consolidation process exerts sufficient frictional force on the rod to prevent substantial advancement of the rod through the transition funnel. The inhibition against axial movement provided by the support grids assures an orderly movement of the entire array of fuel rods from the fuel assembly into the transition funnel while at the same time, the arrangement of parts is such that the fuel rods of the array cannot separate from one another by distances greater than the spacing between the fuel rods in the fuel assembly. The gripper of the present invention in the preferred form embodies a construction of parts as shown in FIGS. 9-12 which includes gripper plate 51 and 52 interconnected by fastener 53 which are arranged to extend through aligned openings at outer peripheral portions of the plates 51 and 52. In this way, the plates are clamped together in a face-to-face relation as best shown in FIG. 10. The construction of each plate 51 and 52 is the same and includes a spaced-apart array of elongated slots 54 having semicircular ends. Slots 54 are elongated to an extent that a fuel rod can be received in each of opposite semicircular ends while leaving a gap between the fuel rods. The gaps between fuel rods in rows of slots are aligned to extend in a transverse relation across each plate 51 and 52. An expandable diaphragm 55, is located in each row of slots. An important feature of the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. 9 resides in the fact that the slot in which the expandable diaphragm resides is formed in each of the plates 51 and 52 and further that the elongated slots are strengthened against a separating force applied against the semicircular ends due to the force applied against the fuel rods by the expandable diaphragm. This reinforcement comprises web sections 56. As best shown in FIG. 10, the web sections form in walls of a groove that is machined in each of the plate 51 and 52 to support the expandable diaphragm. The side walls of the groove form support sites for the diaphragm along its lengths. The diaphragm shown in FIG. 11 is made up of two rectangular sheets of metal 57 and 58 having a rectangular configuration and joined together by welding about the periphery of the sheets. A space between the sheets is thus formed into which pressurized fluid such as water can be introduced through a tubular end fitting 59. The end fitting is attached to the diaphragm by a welding and communicates with the interior space between the sheets. A support arbor 60 extends from the end of the diaphragm which is opposite the fluid entry duct. The tubular end fitting and arbor extend along end portions 61 of the milled slots. Fluid conducting ducts extend from a manifold, not shown, to each inlet pipe for supplying pressurized fluids to the expansible diaphragms. It will be noted in FIG. 9 that certain sites identified by reference numeral 62 comprise guide tube openings that are intermingled in the array of fuel rods. The guide tubes 13 can be passed through the openings 62 in the plate. As is apparent from FIG. 1, the guide tubes have an extended end portion which is sufficient so that the gripper can be guided by these tubes during the reciprocating movement between a gripping and releasing positions. As noted previously, the gripper is reciprocated a short distance to advance the fuel rods in an incremental fashion into the consolidation funnel from the fuel assembly. The gripper 39 used to move the compacted bundle of fuel rods may embody a construction shown in FIGS. 13 and 14 in which spaced-apart plates 85 and 86 are joined together by spacer plates 87, 88 and 89. Plates 85 and 86 each includes a rectangular opening 90 which is dimensioned to correspond to the compacted array of fuel rods emerging from the end 22 of transition funnel 20. Plates 88 and 89 extend in a generally parallel relation and arranged therebetween is a gripper plate 91 which can be forced into compressive engagement with the bundle of fuel rods by operation of a piston and cylinder assembly 92 that is supported in a cavity formed between anchor plates 93. As shown in FIG. 14, chambers within the piston and cylinder assembly 94 at opposite sides of the piston 94A are connected by conduits to a valve 95 to adjustably control the flow of pressurized fluid to the piston and cylinder assembly so that the gripper plate 91 can be pressed into engagement with a bundle of fuel rods to insure gripping of the fuel rod bundle. In FIG. 15, there is illustrated a further arrangement of apparatus of the present invention. Spaced below the surface of water identified by reference numeral 100 in a water pool there is tandemly arranged a canister 101 and therebelow in a spaced-apart relation is the discharge end 22 of the transition funnel 20. The upper end of the fuel assembly 10 is located below the entry end of the transition funnel. In the space between the transition funnel an the fuel assembly, there is arranged two grippers 103 and 104. Gripper 103 is supported in a stationary manner by the structure, e.g., a strong back, which also supports the fuel assembly, transition funnel and canister. Gripper 104 is supported by the structure to reciprocate in the space between the fixed gripper 103 and the fuel rod assembly. In the space between the canister 101 and the transition funnel 20, there is arranged two bundle grippers 105 and 106. Gripper 105 is supported in a stationary manner by the strong back and gripper 106 is supported by this structure to reciprocate in the space between the fixed gripper 105 and the transition funnel 20. Each of the grippers 103 and 104 may embody a construction according to any one of the embodiments described hereinbelow with respect to gripper 35 and each of the grippers 105 and 106 may be constructed according to any one of the embodiments described hereinbefore for gripper 39. A further arrangement of apparatus according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 16 which essentially differs from the embodiments hereinbefore described by the fact that grippers 35 and 39 are secured by brackets 108 and 109, respectively, to the transition funnel 20. The funnel is in turn provided with a support bracket 110 which extends to a support structure such as a strong back on which there is provided an elongated guide to slidably support the funnel for rectilinear reciprocating movement. A piston and cylinder assembly 111 is supported by the strong back so that the rod end of the piston and cylinder assembly is connected to a bracket or other structure extending from the funnel. By this arrangement of parts, the grippers at opposite ends of the funnel reciprocate between a rod gripping position and a rod release position. During return movement of the grippers and funnel, the fuel rods are supported against unwanted axial movement by support grids 12 and/or stationary grippers. The use of stationary grippers for this purpose is preferred and these grippers are identified by reference numerals 112 and 113. The stationary grippers like grippers 35 and 39 may embody a construction of parts according to any one of the embodiments hereinbefore described. As described hereinbefore, it is preferred to compact and transfer fuel rods from two fuel assemblies into a single canister which can be placed in a storage rack for long-term storage. The present invention is not limited thereto and can be utilized to transfer, for example, all the fuel rods from a fuel assembly into a single container having a square, rectangular, or other geometry to permit transportation or permanent storage at a local or remote storage site. In this regard, the triangular configuration of the array of fuel rods in the compacted bundle emerging from the transition funnel can be conveniently placed in a container having a rhombic cross-sectional configuration. In FIG. 17, three storage containers 115, 116, and 117 are illustrated each having a rhombic configuration for receiving a bundle of fuel rods. The rhombic configuration of the storage containers is particularly suitable for placement in a container having a cylindrical cross-sectional configuration. The cylindrical container is identified by reference numeral 118 and can be used for transporting fuel rods to a remote storage site for permanent storage of the fuel rods. The spaced-apart tandem relationship between a fuel assembly, transition funnel and canister can, when desired, be provided in a hot cell wherein the components are arranged so that the fuel rods preferably move unidirectionally along a generally horizontal path. However, if the hot cell embodies a size sufficient to accommodate a vertical arrangement of components so that the fuel rods move unidirectionally along a vertical path, then the fuel consolidating procedure can be carried out by movement of the fuel rods along a path of travel which can be either upwardly or downwardly from the fuel assembly through the consolidating funnel and into the storage canister. Although the invention has been shown in connection with a certain specific embodiment, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes in form and arrangement of parts may be made to suit requirements without departing form the spirit and scope of the invention.