Apparatus for assembling and welding end plugs to nuclear fuel cladding tubes and inspecting the end plug welds on an automated basis.

摘要

In an automated first weld apparatus, a transporter (44) conveys nuclear fuel cladding tubes (43) successively to a welding station (100) where a separate end plug (from 108) is welded to the open end of each tube. Thereafter, the transporter indexes the tubes successively through a cooldown station (200) where the weld is cooled, to a reader station (220) where a unique end plug serial number is read, and thence to a succession of inspection stations (230,280,320) where the internal and external weld characteristics are automatically examined. The resulting inspection data is correlated (28) with the associated serial number for record purposes and tested against quality assurance standards pursuant to sorting the tubes into accepted and rejected lots.