Analysis and Simulation of a Gripper for Fuel Handling on China Lead-Based Research Reactor

The China lead-based research reactor (CLEAR-I) with 10 MW(thermal) will be built for the research of the accelerator-driven subcritical system (ADS) and lead-cooled fast reactor technology. Compared with other reactors, ADS has a spallation target placed in the reactor core center, which affects the refueling motion in the vessel. It is difficult to reach the fuel assemblies near the proton beam tube through the common vertical refueling gripper. In this technical note, a new cantilever-type and internal grasping gripper with defined refueling process was designed to handle all assemblies in CLEAR-I. The static and kinematics analyses of the gripper were carried out by ANSYS Workbench and MATLAB considering the influence of working in air and liquid metal. The structural and kinematic simulation results show that the design of the gripper is feasible for CLEAR-I. It provides an advanced refueling solution for the technical validation of ADS.