A spacer for the fuel rods of a nuclear reactor fuel element is built up from mutually criss-crossing sheet metal strips. All the strips are generally zig-zag shaped, interlock with one another and are also optionally connected by metallurgical means. The resultant spacer thus has the form of a grating, e.g. for a triangular array of fuel rods. Cut-outs (14) in each of the strips (8,9) extend along the length of one flat portion (10, 11); two mutually crossing sheet metal strips (8,9) are hooked or engaged into each other over the length of one of these flat portions (10,11) to form a common flat surface. Pref. as shown, the cut-outs (14) are all located in flat portions (10,10a) parallel to one another, whereas in other portions (11) there are resilient projections (19) for bearing against the fuel rods. In a variant (bottom figure) the cut-outs alternate, one type (22) consisting of a rectangular opening with edge strips (23), the other type being a rectangular recess (24,25), between which a portion (26) has the same geometry has a rectangular opening (22).
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