| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 376451000 | Having particular end closure or seal (e.g., weld, plug, cap, etc.) | 8 |
| 20090238322 | FUEL ROD AND ASSEMBLY CONTAINING AN INTERNAL HYDROGEN/TRITIUM GETTER STRUCTURE - A fuel assembly ( | 09-24-2009 |
| 20090252283 | Nuclear fission reactor fuel assembly adapted to permit expansion of the nuclear fuel contained therein - A nuclear fission reactor fuel assembly adapted to permit expansion of the nuclear fuel contained therein. The fuel assembly comprises an enclosure having enclosure walls to sealingly enclose a nuclear fuel foam defining a plurality of interconnected open-cell voids or a plurality of closed-cell voids. The voids permit expansion of the foam toward the voids, which expansion may be due to heat generation and/or fission gas release. The voids shrink or reduce in volume as the foam expands. Pressure on the enclosure walls is substantially reduced because the foam expands toward and even into the voids rather than against the enclosure walls. Thus, the voids provide space into which the foam can expand. | 10-08-2009 |
| 20130259188 | REVERSE CONICAL LOWER END PLUG FOR AN ANNULAR NUCLEAR FUEL ROD - A lower end plug for an annular nuclear fuel rod includes a support with a great slenderness ratio, a coolant inflow part with an inner inflow space and a plurality of inflow holes in a wall thereof so as to interact with the inflow space, coupled to a lower end of the annular nuclear fuel rod at an upper end thereof, and extending from an upper end of the support in a reverse conical shape such that the inflow space interact with an inner channel of the annular nuclear fuel rod, and a coupler extending from a lower end of the support and coupled with a handing tool of the annular nuclear fuel rod. Thus, although a bottoming phenomenon of the annular nuclear fuel rod occurs, the coolant can be supplied to the inner channel of the annular nuclear fuel rod through the inflow holes of the lower end plug. | 10-03-2013 |
| 20130272483 | LOWER END PLUG WITH TEMPERATURE REDUCTION DEVICE AND NUCLEAR REACTOR FUEL ROD INCLUDING SAME - A pedestal plug is sized to fit into a cladding of a nuclear fuel rod. A lower end plug is sized and shaped to plug the lower end of the nuclear fuel rod. One of the pedestal plug and the lower end plug includes a protrusion and the other of the pedestal plug and the lower end plug includes a hollow region into which the protrusion fits. In one embodiment the pedestal plug is a hollow cylindrical pedestal plug and the protrusion is disposed on the lower end plug. The protrusion disposed on the lower end plug suitably press fits into the hollow cylindrical pedestal plug. In a method of assembling a fuel rod of a nuclear reactor, the pedestal plug and the lower end plug are press fit together, and after the press fitting the lower end plug is welded to a cladding of the fuel rod with the pedestal plug disposed inside the cladding. | 10-17-2013 |
| 20130272484 | RESISTANCE WELDING OF AN END CAP FOR NUCLEAR FUEL RODS - An open end of a cladding tube of a nuclear fuel rod is plugged with an end plug having a main body and a cylindrical bond portion extending from the main body and terminating in a cladding seat with reduced diameter compared with the cylindrical bond portion. The plugging includes clamping the open end of the cladding tube against the cladding seat of the end plug and, while clamping, applying electrical current between the end plug and the open end of the cladding tube so as to force the open end of the cladding tube over the cladding seat and slide over the cylindrical bond portion of the end plug and to generate a resistance weld between a cylindrical bonding surface of the cylindrical bond portion of the end plug and the inside surface of the open end of the cladding tube. | 10-17-2013 |
| 20140192949 | NUCLEAR REACTOR FUEL ELEMENT HAVING SILICON CARBIDE MULTILAYERED CLADDING AND THORIA-BASED FISSIONABLE FUEL - A nuclear fuel element for use in water-cooled nuclear power reactors. The fuel element includes a multilayered silicon carbide cladding tube. The multilayered silicon carbide cladding tube preferably includes an inner layer and a central layer. Also, in one embodiment, the ends further include hermetically sealed end caps. The cladding tube is sized to receive a stack of individual fissionable fuel pellets. In one embodiment, the fuel pellets comprise a mixture of thorium oxide and plutonium oxide. | 07-10-2014 |
| 20150078505 | SIC MATRIX FUEL CLADDING TUBE WITH SPARK PLASMA SINTERED END PLUGS - A method of providing an end-capped tubular ceramic composite for containing nuclear fuel ( | 03-19-2015 |
| 20160099080 | NUCLEAR FUEL ELEMENT CORRUGATED PLENUM HOLDDOWN DEVICE - A fuel rod having a gas plenum holddown device that occupies less volume than a conventional spiral spring and is formed from a bellows-like, resilient tubular member having a hollow interior volume open to the gas plenum and an exterior sheath formed from a plurality of alternating ridges and troughs stacked in tandem and interconnected. | 04-07-2016 |
