Spent fuel consolidation apparatus.

摘要

The spent fuel consolidation apparatus for vertically and remotely dismantling an irradiated nuclear fuel assembly while the fuel assembly remains submerged in a coolant and for consolidating the spent fuel rods of the dismantled fuel assembly. The apparatus comprises a platform (20) rotatably mounted on a vertical support (22) with a fuel assembly station (24), a consolidation station (26), and a canister station (28) attached to the platform (20). A gripper mechanism (32) is movably disposed on the vertical support (22) for transferring spent fuel rods (40) from one station to another as the various stations are rotated into alignment with the gripper mechanism (32). In the fuel assembly station a fuel assembly (38) is held in position while the spent fuel rods (40) are removed therefrom, in the consolidation station (26) the spent fuel rods are consolidated, and in the canister station the consolidated spent fuel rods are contained in close array.