ALEXANDRIA, Va., Oct. 8 -- United States Patent no. 12,437,884, issued on Oct. 7, was assigned to Westinghouse Electric Co. LLC (Cranberry Township, Pa.).
"Nuclear fuel rod having cladding with varying diameter" was invented by Cenk Guler (Irwin, Pa.) and Yixing Sung (Monroeville, Pa.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A variable diameter fuel rod of a nuclear reactor assembly is disclosed. The variable diameter fuel rod includes an elongated cladding tube configured to house a plurality of fuel pellets including a fissile material arranged in a fuel stack orientation. The elongated cladding tube includes first and second axial reflector regions and a middle axial region therebetween. The middle ...