Apparatus for collapsing burnable poison rods for storage in reduced volume

摘要

An apparatus for collapsing and storing used burnable poison assemblies in a reduced volume, which includes a hanger member movable up and down for lifting a holder portion of a burnable poison assembly; a cutter for cutting solid portions of thimble plugs and poison rods of the burnable poison assembly hung on the hanger member; a restricting mechanism for holding the poison rods in restricted positions, restraining spontaneous movements in lateral directions; a gripper member movable up and down and capable of releasably gripping the poison rods; a packing mechanism capable of pushing pushing aside previously stored poison rods in a container to put thereinto the poison rods gripped by the gripper member; and a thimble plug handling mechanism for guiding cut-off thimble plugs onto a receptable tray and placing the same in a container.