FUEL ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF ITS MANUFACTURE Russian patent published in 2018 - IPC G21C3/32 

FIELD: power industry.

SUBSTANCE: in the fuel assembly (FA) of nuclear reactor comprising a head and a shank, connected to each other by a frame; including longitudinal angular elements connected to each other by several transverse laminar rims; rod-type fuel elements located in a beam with fixing means and spacer elements, according to the invention, the spacer elements are made in the form of thin-walled tubes with through longitudinal slots that are wound spirally onto the outer surface of the fuel element's cladding and are fixed to the ends of the fuel elements, with rims or at least most of them are located along the height of the FA so that they contact the spacer elements of the peripheral fuel elements of the beam. There is also a method of manufacturing the assembly.

EFFECT: group of inventions makes it possible to improve the reliability of fuel element's beam spacing in fuel assembly and to reduce local stresses in fuel element's claddings.

23 cl, 3 dwg