Patent ID: 7815964

Claim:
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.