Method and device for extracting spherical fuel elements from a pebble-bed reactor core

摘要

In order to extract spherical fuel elements (3) from the core (2) of a reactor pressure vessel, these are guided using gravity feed into an interim storage vessel (8) located beneath the core (2) but within the reactor pressure vessel. The interim storage vessel (8) is arranged so that it is accessible from the mouth of an essentially vertical suction pipeline (10). This can be moved up and down within a conduit (9), and can therefore be loaded with a certain number of fuel elements (3), depending on how deep it is inserted into the interim storage vessel (8). These fuel elements are successively delivered pneumatically to an area outside the reactor pressure vessel by the suction pipeline (10), without a penetration in the bottom of the reactor pressure vessel being required. IMAGE