Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method of refueling a nuclear reactor comprising:an elongated reactor vessel enclosed at a lower end and having an open upper end on which an annular flange is formed and a central axis extending along an elongated dimension;a reactor vessel head having an annular portion on an underside of the head that is machined to form a sealing surface;a first removable annular seal ring, sized to seat on the reactor vessel flange between the flange and the sealing surface on the underside of the reactor vessel head, the seal ring being interposed between the sealing surface on the underside of the vessel head and the flange on the reactor vessel and having a thickness sized to sealably accommodate one or more radial passages through which one or more instrument conduits pass from outside of the reactor vessel to an interior thereof to communicate instrumentation signals out of a core of the nuclear reactor, the core comprising a plurality of fuel assemblies;an upper internals package supported above the core within the reactor vessel and having a plurality of hollow support columns respectively having a substantially vertical passage therethrough, that extends through and between an upper core plate and an upper support plate of the upper internals package, the passage through the upper core plate being aligned with a corresponding instrument thimble within one of the fuel assemblies; anda plurality of hollow tubes fixedly connected to the first removable annular seal ring, each of the hollow tubes being slidably mounted within the passage of one of the support columns with at least one of the instrument conduits extending axially through the hollow tube into the corresponding support column, the hollow tube being slidable within the support column between a fully inserted position and a fully extended position wherein in the fully inserted position the instrument conduit enters the instrument thimble and in the fully extended position the instrument conduit is withdrawn from the core;the method comprising the steps of:removing the reactor vessel head from the first removable annular seal ring;raising the first removable annular seal ring to an elevation that withdraws the instrument conduit from the core;withdrawing the upper internals package, including the first removable annular seal ring in the raised position, as a single unit, out of the reactor vessel to a storage location; andrefueling the core. 2. The method of claim 1 wherein the method of refueling the nuclear reactor after the refueling step includes the steps of:maintaining the first removable annular seal ring in the raised position;lowering the upper internals package into the reactor vessel;supporting the upper internals package above the core;lowering the first removable annular seal ring on top of the reactor vessel flange and simultaneously lowering the hollow tubes within the corresponding support columns to lower the instrument conduits into the corresponding instrument thimbles in the fuel assemblies; andreplacing the reactor vessel head. 3. The method of claim 2 wherein the first removable annular seal ring extends radially between an approximate extent of an outer wall of the reactor vessel and a wall of the upper internals package, including a second removable annular seal ring positioned below the first removable annular seal ring between the first removable seal ring and the reactor vessel flange and having substantially the same radial extent as the first removable seal ring, the second removable annular seal ring is fixedly connected to the wall of the upper internals package wherein the step of withdrawing the upper internals package includes the step of removing the second removable annular seal ring from the reactor vessel flange as part of the upper internals package.