Development of Shearing Device for Reducing the Storage Volume of the Spent Fuel Associated Assemblies in Nuclear Power Plants

With the continuous running of the nuclear power plants, a great deal of unavailable spent fuel associated assemblies were and will be produced in the aggregates of the nuclear power plants, which are usually stored in the spent fuel storage pool and occupy lots of spent fuel storage racks, making the spent fuel storage facility of the nuclear power plants face the risk of being filled up. Therefore, it drives the nuclear power plants to seek a new method to increase the spent fuel storage capacity. In order to increase the storage capacity of the spent fuel storage racks, a shearing device is proposed to shear the rods and base plates (or spider assemblies) of the spent fuel associated assemblies, reducing the storage volume of the spent fuel associated assemblies and reducing the amount of the occupied spent fuel storage racks. The technology of water-hydraulic shear is applied to carry the shear process through underwater cold extrusion, effectively ensuring the integrity of the rod structure and avoiding the pollution caused by radioactive substances. Besides, no swarf would be produced to pollute the spent fuel storage pool. Through the finite element calculation and confirmation on the spot, it is verified that the bearing requirement of the fixed blade (the key assembly unit) of the shearing device is met during the relevant disassembling process. Currently, the shearing device has been successfully applied to reducing the storage volume of the spent fuel associated assemblies in LingAo Nuclear Power Plant. Therefore, the shearing device is of certain promoting and reference value.