Method and apparatus for installing fuel rods in a nuclear fuel assembly skeleton

摘要

The apparatus enables rods to be installed in an assembly skeleton that does not include its end-fittings. The apparatus comprises reception means receiving the skeleton without end-fittings and enabling the skeleton to be interposed between a storage magazine storing rods in alignment with rod-receiving emplacements in the skeleton and with a longitudinal displacement mechanism for displacing drawbars that are terminated by rod-grasping clamps towards the magazine and away from the magazine. The apparatus also includes a cap-placing assembly interposed between the reception means and the longitudinal displacement mechanism. The cap-placing assembly has a fixed support and a removable receptacle pierced with cap-retaining housings in an array that reproduces the array of rod-receiving emplacements. The shape of the caps being such that they fit over the clamps of the drawbars while the drawbars are moving towards the magazine.