ANF Lingen: fuel assemblies

The Lingen plant produces UO₂ powder (uranium oxide), as well as pellets, fuel rods, and fuel assemblies.

It has fabricated more than 20,000 fuel assemblies since operations began in 1977.

Stages in assembly fabrication:

• Uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) is transformed into uranium oxide (UO₂)
• This oxide is compacted into cylindrical pellets and baked in ultra-high-temperature furnaces 
• The pellets are then stacked into tubes of around 4 meters in length, called "rods". These are then sealed off at the ends. The zirconium-alloy rod cladding is subjected to rigorous testing 
• The rods are grouped into parallelepipedal assemblies with a cross-section that is approximately 21 cm x 21 cm and a length of 4 to 4.8 m

ANF Lingen