Gas-cooled nuclear reactor fuel element has fuel plates containing fissile particles in metal matrix with gas flow channels between plates

摘要

A fuel element (10) comprises a series of adjacent fuel plates (12a, 12b) containing elementary fissile particles embedded in a metal matrix, with parallel channels (14) between the plates for a coolant gas flow. The plates extend for the whole height of the reactor core, and the channels are vertical and of uniform section along their entire length, or have convergent inlet and divergent outlet ends.