Magazine for fuel element handling - has carousel with concentric rows of holes arranged for reduced number of coupling operations

摘要

A magazine drum for the storage of sets of nuclear fuel elements comprises a turntable contg. a number of holes in concentric rows about the axis of rotation for storage of fuel elements parallel to that axis. These rows of holes are so arranged that the path of the grab of a transfer machine for handling the elements into and out of a fuel charging machine intersects >=1 hole of each concentric row without any rotation of the turntable. For the transfer operation, the tubes in the transfer machine or other storage assembly are also arranged in alignment with these holes along this path. Fuel changing operation can be carried out with a greatly reduced number of connecting up operations between the magazine and the other fuel handling equipment. The fuel changing operation can be considerably simplified and shortened.