SPACER GRID FOR FUEL ASSEMBLY OF NUCLEAR REACTOR Russian patent published in 2010 - IPC G21C3/32 

FIELD: power industry.

SUBSTANCE: invention refers to fuel assemblies of nuclear reactor with triangular packing of fuel elements. Groups of plates are located in three tiers in spacer grid, and within the group they are installed with possibility of contacting fuel elements only of one row. At that, plates of the second tier are provided with slots on both sides, in which plates of the appropriate tiers are arranged, and height of plates of the second tier and depth of slot have been chosen from the following condition: h₂=2n+Δ; h₁=h₃, n≤h₁, where: n - depth of slot; h₁ - height of plate of the first tier; h₂ - height of plate of the second tier; h₃ - height of plate of the third tier; Δ - value by which the height of plates of the second tier is more than height of plates of the first or the third tiers. Besides when the plates cross, they form cells in the form of irregular hexagon; at corners of the binding frame on the level of plates of the second tier there are protrusions directed inside the frame, and additional six-sided shell forming the cavity the sides of which are located opposite tops of the binding frame is installed in the centre of the grid.

EFFECT: improving operating reliability of fuel assembly.

6 cl, 2 dwg