Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method of applying a burnable poison to a nuclear fuel rod having exterior cladding, which fuel rod is useful in a nuclear environment, and will be subject to exterior contact with aqueous coolant, the method comprising:(a) providing a nuclear fuel rod, said nuclear fuel rod having an axis, and an outer surface of cladding optionally having surface oxides and other surface deposits;(b) providing at least one application device adjacent said surface of said nuclear fuel rod;(c) rotating said nuclear fuel rod about said axis or moving the at least one application device and holding the rod still;(d) optionally removing at least a portion of any of said optional surface oxides and said other surface deposits on said outer cladding surface of said nuclear fuel rod by spraying an abrasive material onto said surface of said nuclear fuel rod via said at least one application device; and(e) applying burnable poison particles onto said cladding surface of said nuclear fuel rod by spraying a plurality of layers of said burnable poison particles onto said surface of said nuclear fuel rod via said at least one application device, where the burnable poison particles are applied at a velocity sufficient to cause adhesion to said outer surface of cladding, to form an outer layer of the burnable poison particles subject to oxidation by contact with an aqueous material, where the total thickness of the plurality of layers of the burnable poison particles is from 0.001 mils to 10 mils. 2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising applying a further protective coating onto said burnable poison layers via said application device while adjusting the position of said application device in relation to said nuclear fuel rod. 3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising applying as said further protective coating a metallic coating. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said adjusting the position of said application device involves adjusting the angle of said application device in relation to said nuclear fuel rod. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein said adjusting the position of said application device involves adjusting the position of said application device in relation to said axis of said nuclear fuel rod. 6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising applying as said burnable poison a burnable poison selected from the group comprising elemental boron, elemental gadolinium, elemental hafnium, elemental erbium, HfB2, ZrB2, Gd2O3, Er2O3, and mixtures thereof. 7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the cladding is a metal, the method further comprising adjusting the rate at which said burnable poison particles exit said application device during the step of applying said burnable poison particles onto said cladding surface of said nuclear fuel rod, so as to improve surface adhesion to the particles to the surface of the cladding. 8. The method according to claim 1, wherein said nuclear fuel rod is continuously rotated. 9. The method of claim 1, wherein after step (e), said nuclear fuel rod is contacted by an aqueous material causing said outer layer of burnable poison to form a protective, adhering oxide. 10. The method of claim 1 wherein the velocity in step (e) is from 1,500 ft./second to 2,500 ft./second and the particle size of the burnable poison is from 1 micrometer to 500 micrometers. 11. A method of applying a burnable poison to a nuclear fuel rod having exterior cladding, which fuel rod is useful in a nuclear environment, and will be subject to exterior contact with aqueous coolant, the method comprising:(a) providing a nuclear fuel rod, said nuclear fuel rod having an axis and an outer surface of cladding optionally having surface oxides and other surface deposits;(b) providing at least one application device adjacent said surface of said nuclear fuel rod, said application device having a channel extending therethrough, said channel being in communication with a pressurized gas source and a particle source;(c) providing an image capture device adjacent said nuclear fuel rod, said image capture device being adapted to transmit an image to a remote viewing station;(d) rotating said nuclear fuel rod about said axis;(e) optionally introducing abrasive particles into said channel via said particle source and expelling pressurized gas from said pressurized gas source through said channel thereby spraying said abrasive particles onto said outer cladding surface of said nuclear fuel rod and removing at least a portion of said optional surface oxides and said other surface deposits on said outer surface of said nuclear fuel rod while adjusting the position of said application device in relation to said nuclear fuel rod; and(f) introducing burnable poison particles into said channel via said particle source and expelling pressured gas from said pressurized gas source through said channel thereby spraying a plurality of layers of said burnable poison particles onto said cladding surface of said nuclear fuel rod while adjusting the position of said application device in relation to said nuclear fuel rod, wherein the burnable poison particles are applied at a velocity sufficient to cause adhesion to said outer surface of cladding, to form an outer layer of the burnable poison particles subject to oxidation by contact with an aqueous material, where the total thickness of the plurality of layers of the burnable poison particles is from 0.001 mils. to 10 mils. 12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising applying a further protective coating onto said burnable poison layers via said application device while adjusting the position of said application device in relation to said nuclear fuel rod. 13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising applying as said further protective coating a metallic coating. 14. The method according to claim 11, wherein a portion of said adjusting the position of said application device involves adjusting the angle of said application device in relation to said nuclear fuel rod. 15. The method according to claim 11, wherein a portion of said adjusting the position of said application device involves adjusting the position of said application device in relation to said axis of said nuclear fuel rod. 16. The method according to claim 11, further comprising applying as said burnable poison a burnable poison selected from the group comprising boron, gadolinium, hafnium, erbium, HfB2, ZrB2, Gd2O3, and Er2O3 and mixtures thereof. 17. The method according to claim 11, wherein the cladding is a metal, the method further comprising adjusting the rate at which said burnable poison particles exit said application device during the step of applying said burnable poison particles onto said cladding surface of said nuclear fuel rod, so as to melt the particles into the surface of the cladding. 18. The method according to claim 11, wherein said nuclear fuel rod is continuously rotated. 19. The method according to claim 11, further comprising transmitting an image of said nuclear fuel rod from said image capture device to said remote viewing station. 20. The method of claim 11, wherein after step (f), said nuclear fuel rod is contacted by an aqueous material causing said outer layer of burnable poison to form a protective adhering oxide. 21. The method of claim 11, wherein the velocity in step (f) is from 1,500 ft./second to 2,500 ft./second and the particle size of the burnable poison is from 1 micrometer to 250 micrometers.