Year
1989
Abstract
In February 1987, Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the Commission of the European Communities, Ispra, Italy, started a collaboration for a joint ut.-c^upment of a valid Safeguars system using Ultrasonic Seals to be fixed on MOX PVR Fuel Assemblies. Ve will report in the paper on our progress in studying a workable adaptation of the BVR VAK-III Seal to the PWR Fuel Assembly configuration. Ve will review the difficulties inherent to the PVR fuel assembly design and the use of associated items such as Control Rod Clusters whose motion into the assemblies must not be hampered. Ve consider several possible Safeguards schemes leading to different levels of conceptual difficulty. Prototypes have been built, indicating acceptable solutions for the case of Fresh Fuel Seals. Seals have been reduced in size and one version has been studied with merged Identity and Integrity features, so as to be checked in a single operation. The compatibility with the Fuel Assemblies design requirements is also taken into account.