process and apparatus for the handling of the fuel of a nuclear reactor elelmenti king

摘要

1335332 Fuelling reactors COMMISSARIAT A L'ENERGIE ATOMIQUE 31 May 1972 [1 June 1971] 25442/72 Heading G6C A nuclear reactor fuel handling installation comprises two similar machines 23, 24 which operate in parallel between on the one hand an opening 8 providing access to the reactor core 1 and, on the other hand, in the case of the machine 23, a storage magazine 12 for new fuel elements and, in the case of the machine 24, a recovery well 18 for spent fuel elements. The machines 23, 24 move along guide rails 22 on the refuelling floor 21 formed by the upper surface of the reactor shield structure 4, and each comprises a grab 27 controlled by a winch 28 and an internal chamber 29 for receiving fuel elements, only the chamber 29 of the machine 24 which handles the spent fuel elements being surrounded by a shield 30, this being made necessary by the radio-activity of these spent elements. The opening 8 is formed off-centre within a small seal plug 7 mounted eccentrically within a second rotatable seal plug 6. Access holes 10, 11 are provided within the shield structure 4 to enable new fuel elements to be removed from the magazine 12 by the machine 23 and spent fuel elements to be placed in the recovery well 18 by the machine 24. New fuel elements 14 are stored in compartments of a rotary drum 13 in the magazine 12, while the recovery well 18 contains flasks 20 carried by a turntable 17 and intended to receive spent fuel elements 19. A duct 16 connects the well 18 with the access hole 11 via an isolating valve 15. The magazine 12 and the well 18 are placed diametrically opposite one another with respect to the reactor core 1 so that the two machines 23, 24 can be displaced along the same rails 22 in simultaneous reciprocating motion.