ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,381,015, issued on Aug. 5, was assigned to BWXT mPower Inc. (Charlotte, N.C.).
"Lower end fitting locating pins" was invented by Julius M. Ullmann (Forest, Va.), Lewis A. Walton (Forest, Va.) and Mary W. Johnson (Amherst, Va.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A nuclear reactor has a core installed on a lower core plate and formed from multiple fuel assemblies, each fuel assembly including a structural cage assembly. The structural cage assembly has an upper end fitting, mid grids, and a lower end fitting (LEF). The LEF positions the fuel assembly using four locating pins located at each corner of the LEF. The pins position the fuel assembly ...