Instrument Description
The production element chopper (PEC) resides in the argon cell at the Fuel Conditioning Facility. The PEC is designed to chop Experimental Breeder Reactor-II (EBR-II) driver fuel elements into small segments (typically .25” up to a maximum length of approximately 1”). The element segments are produced via a programmable logic controller (PLC)-controlled electromechanical press capable of producing 30 tons of force. The elements are typically automatically fed into the press via a servo-controlled linear slide feed mechanism. The feed mechanism houses a cassette able to hold a maximum of five elements. Elements are chopped directly into an anode basket to support electrorefining operations.Applications
Size reducing irradiated fuel elements for further processing.
Specifications
Ability to process five elements simultaneously
Fuel diameters that range from 0.174 - .500” have been sheared in the PEC
Designed for chopping EBR-II fuel elements (Mk-IA, Mk-II, Mk-IIA, Mk-IIB, Mk-IIC, Mk-IICS, Mk-IIS, Mk-III, Mk-IV)
Ability to obtain sample segments at any location of the fuel element
Manual or automatic sequencing capabilities