Core and Fuel
A fuel assembly consists of an array of fuel rods and control rod guide thimbles bundled together and held with grids. The fuel rod is made from zirconium alloy cladding tubes containing cylindrical fuel pellets made from sintered UO2.
Since MHI delivered the first nuclear fuel to Kansai Electric Power Company's Mihama Unit 1 in 1970, subsequently, MHI has been providing 23 plants in total of Hokkaido Electric Power Co., Kansai Electric Power Co., Shikoku Electric Power Co., Kyushu Electric Power Co., Japan Atomic Power Co. with high-quality products.
In the meantime, MHI has been striving consistently to improve the design and quality, now the level of quality is proud of the world highest. Furthermore, MHI has been advancing the development of high burn-up fuel(MOX fuel) with the aim of efficient use of uranium resources, as well as the enhancement of the fuels well integrated with power plant.
A nuclear fuel, that is fabricated by plutonium extracted from spent fuel mixed with uranium, to be burned in LWR plants, is called "MOX(Mixed Oxide) Fuel." Burning MOX fuel in the LWR is called "plu-thermal"(combination of the words "plutonium" and "thermal reactor(thermal neutron reactor, generally referred as LWR)".
The implementation of MOX fuel use(plu-thermal) is in compliance with Japanese commitment of efficient use of uranium resources and not having excess plutonium, and explicitly described in the Long-Term Program for the Development and Utilization of Nuclear Energy of Japan.
Mitsubishi group is working on a wide variety of areas such as design of MOX fuel, safety evaluation, core design, impact assessment on plant systems, design of transport container and fuel fabrication.
PWR Fuel Fabrication Record
Fuel Assembly and Control rod Cluster(17×17Type)
| 600MWe Class | 900MWe Class | 1,200MWe Class | APWR1,500MWe Class | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thermal Output(MWt) | 1,650 | 2,652 | 3,411 | approx. 4,451 |
| Core equivalent diameter(m) | 2.5 | 3.0 | 3.4 | 3.9 |
| Core active height(m) | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Number of loaded fuel assembly(per core) | 121 | 157 | 193 | 257 |
Business contact: Nuclear Energy Systems Nuclear Energy Systems Administration Department Planning Group +81-3-6716-4812
