NON-VENTED FUEL ELEMENT Russian patent published in 2013 - IPC G21C3/16 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: invention can be used in a high-temperature gas-cooled fast reactor of a nuclear power plant (NPP) for space purposes. The fuel element has a cladding made from refractory monocrystalline material, a core made from uranium dioxide in form of a vertical set of annular tablets, an inert gaseous filler, a compensation volume and a fixing element. The core, on the side of the coolant outlet of the reactor and at a length of at least 0.6-0.8 times the length of the active zone, is made of tablets with a primarily open porosity and pore size of at least 10 mcm. The fixing element and the compensation volume lie on the side of the coolant input of the reactor and are linked to each other and a central channel which is formed by the annular tablets and is provided with a plug on the side of the coolant outlet. The ratio of the volume of open porosity of the core to the total free volume in the fuel clement is equal to 0.2-0.7.

EFFECT: spatial stability of the cladding of the high-temperature fuel element during a long service life in conditions of oscillating loads with simultaneous restriction of the influx of gaseous fission products and fuel components into the coolant gas of the reactor.

7 cl, 2 dwg