Development of the Spent Fuel Rod Cutting Device by Cutter Blade Method

Cutter blade 방식에 의한 사용후핵연료봉 절단 장치 개발

Spent fuel rod cutting device should cut a spent fuel rod to an optimal size in order to fast decladding operation. In this paper, for developing spent fuel rod cutting device with cutter blade, rod properties such as dimension and material of zircaloy tube and fuel pellet are investigated at first and then, various methods of existing cutting devices used commercially are investigated and their performance are analyzed and compared. This device is designed to be operated automatically via remote control system considering later use in Hot-Cell (radioactive area) and the mdularization in the structure of this device makes maintenance easy. SUS and Zircaloy-4 are selected as cut material used in the test of spent fuel rod cutting device by cutter blade. In order for constructing the high durable cutter blade, various materials are analyzed in terms of quality, shape, characteristic, and heat treatment, etc. and from these results, spent fuel rod cutting device is designed and manufactured based on the considerations of durability, round shape sustainability of rod cross-section, debris generation, and fire risk, etc.