Development of the endurance test program and the assembly fixture for TRITON11™

University essay from Lunds universitet/Innovation

Abstract: The engineers at Westinghouse Electric Company have developed a new nuclear fuel design called TRITON11™, which will be used in Boiling Water Reactors (BWR). This project has been to develop a test program and an assembly fixture for TRITON11™. The test program can not be fully presented in this repport due to confidentiality. The test program is for the first scoping test that will be performed on the fuel to test the mechanical performance. The test program should test the limits of the structure but must still be reasonable and reflect the reality. The test will be performed under two-phase flow conditions to test the upper parts of the structure. This means that the temperature should be held constant at 280℃ with a pressure of 70 bar and with a flow of 19 kg/s. The duration of the test should be at least 700 hours. The test fuel rods that are used are longer than the Nordic and shorter than the Continental. Some of the components are therfore modified in length to adjust for this. These modifications should not affect the results substantially. The assembly fixture is supposed to be used at the fuel laboratory where the tests will be performed. The fixture needs to hold the spacers firmly during the assembly of the fuel bundle. The position of the different spacer levels should be able to be adjusted in height. The fixture is built up by four aluminum profiles that builds the corners. The corners are connected by a number of brackets at different positions. The spacers are placed inside a spacer holder that is placed on a level adjustment frame. The level adjustment frames and the brackets are connected to the corners by screws and nuts. The screw joint allows for an easy adjustment of the spacer levels. The bottom plate is held in place by a holder made in POM that is placed on top of a level adjustmend frame. Both the Nordic and the Continental design can be assembled in the fixture. A holder for the transition piece needs to be used for the Conntinental design.

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