Patent ID: 7856076

Claim:
A fuel assembly for a pressurized water nuclear reactor, the assembly comprising: fuel rods, the fuel rods having an outer cladding and an upper and a lower plug and having a length and a diameter; and a skeleton for supporting the fuel rods, the fuel rods extending in a longitudinal direction and being arranged at nodes of a substantially regular network, the support skeleton comprising an upper terminal end-piece and a lower terminal end-piece, and guide tubes that connect the upper and lower terminal end-pieces, the guide tubes of the support skeleton having openings for receiving rods of an assembly for controlling and stopping the pressurized water nuclear reactor, the fuel rods being arranged longitudinally between the upper and lower terminal end-pieces, wherein the lower terminal end-piece has a top side and a bottom side, the top side facing the fuel rods and the bottom side being opposite the top side and has noses for orientating flow of a coolant fluid of the reactor along lower ends of the fuel rods, the noses being arranged in the nodes of the substantially regular network in order to be positioned in a longitudinal continuation of at least a majority of the fuel rods of the support skeleton, wherein the noses project from the bottom side of the lower terminal end-piece and converge to be narrower than the diameter of the fuel rods in a direction that is orientated from the top side of the lower terminal end-piece towards the bottom side of the lower terminal end-piece.