METHOD OF PACKING DEFECTIVE SPENT FUEL ELEMENTS OF NUCLEAR REACTOR AND APPARATUS FOR REALISING SAID METHOD Russian patent published in 2014 - IPC G21C19/06 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: group of inventions relates to nuclear engineering, particularly to packing (loading) defective spent fuel elements into an ampoule (rabbit) for temporary storage in a cooling pond and subsequent transportation for processing. After loading spent fuel elements into a rabbit and pressing-in a top cover, the bottom cover of the rabbit is placed on a caisson support/locking member, the loaded rabbit is placed in the caisson, compressed air is fed into the caisson, after which the loaded rabbit is placed down on the bottom cover and the loaded rabbit is extracted from the caisson. The disclosed method is realised by an apparatus which consists of a rabbit and a caisson. The rabbit consists of a sealed housing with a top and a bottom cover. A support for loaded fuel elements is placed in the housing of the rabbit and the top and bottom covers are provided with seals. The housing of the rabbit is capable of moving vertically through a seal assembly into the caisson. The inlet pipe of the caisson is connected through a valve to a compressed air pipe and the outlet pipe is linked to the atmosphere over the pond. In the bottom part of the caisson, there is a support/locking member for mounting the bottom cover of the rabbit. A support for loaded fuel elements is placed in the housing of the rabbit and the top and bottom covers are provided with seals.

EFFECT: enabling not only the loading of spent fuel elements into a rabbit under a protective layer of water, but also the removal of water from the loaded rabbit and the sealing thereof.

3 cl, 2 dwg