| 摘要 |
<p>1,114,567. Fuel elements. ATOMIC ENERGY BOARD. 10 June, 1965, No. 47385/67. Divided out of 1,114,566. Heading G6C. A fuel element assembly includes a fuel container defining a fuel space, a coolant region in heat exchange relationship with the fuel space, fuel supply means, a fuel withdrawal passage from the fuel container, and cooling means adapted to cool the fuel space sufficiently to freeze coolant in the fuel space in at least one local zone to form a plug of frozen coolant to block off the passage. To remove spent fuel, the plug is melted as by heat from the hot parts of the fuel space. Preferably, two vertically spaced cooling zones are provided so that by alternately melting the plug of one zone while the other is still frozen the batchwise removal of spent fuel can be effected while continuously supporting the fuel on a plug of solid coolant. By varying the amount of fuel within the fuel space, a means of reactivity control is provided. In an emergency, the reactor could be shut down by discharging all the fuel elements into the spent fuel storage space. The fuel may consist of granules, pre. ferably in the form of spheres. The fuel element assemblies of this invention are preferably used in a heavy water moderated reactor as described in Specification 1,114,566.</p> |
