
How do we inspect nuclear fuel?
Tecnatom develops technology and renders services for the inspection and characterisation of both fresh and spent nuclear fuel. In order to do this, we have been working in close collaboration with the Spanish nuclear fuel manufacturer ENUSA since the 90s and together we have developed a family of sophisticated automatic nuclear fuel inspection and characterisation systems. These systems are aimed at providing information on the behaviour of fuel components at their different stages of burning, as part of a material manufacturer research and optimisation programme.
Among the other systems developed are inspection equipment for the measurement of oxide layers and the diameter of fuel cladding with micron precision, fuel component deformation measurement equipment for torsion, warping or tilting, detection and location systems for components with leaks and devices for the radiological characterisation of burnup fuel.
We have also developed automatic systems for the quality control of nuclear fuel during its manufacture stage. These systems permit the monitoring and control of a variety of critical fuel parameters such as enrichment, the composition of fuel pellets, rod enrichment areas, gadolinium content, spring position, rod surface defects, and others.