{
  "patent_number": "US 10818403",
  "country": "US",
  "title": "How Nuclear Power Plants Reuse Fuel Between Multiple Reactors",
  "original_title": "Inter-module fuel shuffling",
  "summary": "This patent describes a method for nuclear power plants with several reactors to efficiently reuse partially used fuel by moving it between different reactor cores across multiple operating cycles.",
  "what_it_does": "This patent describes a method for operating a power plant that has multiple nuclear reactor cores. In a first operating period, called a \"fuel cycle,\" the method involves loading a first reactor core with both fresh fuel and some partially used fuel (Claim 1). Simultaneously, a second reactor core is loaded with its own fresh fuel and partially used fuel (Claim 1). After this first cycle is complete, in a second fuel cycle, the method specifies moving the partially used fuel from the first reactor core into the second reactor core, alongside new fresh fuel for the second core (Claim 1, Claim 2). This \"shuffling\" strategy allows the plant to get more energy out of the fuel by using it in different reactors for different periods. For example, a fuel assembly might start in Reactor 1, then be moved to Reactor 2, and later to Reactor 3, before being fully spent, as described in further claims like Claim 3 and Claim 8.",
  "what_it_does_not_cover": [
    "Fuel management methods for power plants with only a single reactor core.",
    "Loading fresh fuel into a reactor core without also loading partially spent fuel from another core.",
    "Methods that do not involve physically moving fuel assemblies between different reactor cores across fuel cycles.",
    "Fuel shuffling strategies that do not include the specific sequence of loading fresh and partially spent fuel as described in the claims.",
    "The use of specific fuel types like uranium-oxide (UO2) or mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel, unless those specific fuel types are explicitly used in the claimed shuffling method."
  ],
  "filed": "2017-02-28",
  "granted": "2020-10-27",
  "expires": "2037-02-28",
  "status": "active",
  "holder": "Nuscale Power",
  "holder_url": "https://patentbrief.org/company/nuscale-power",
  "inventors": [
    {
      "name": "Allyson KITTO",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/allyson-kitto"
    },
    {
      "name": "Jose N. Reyes, Jr.",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/jose-n-reyes-jr"
    },
    {
      "name": "Daniel INGERSOLL",
      "url": "https://patentbrief.org/inventor/daniel-ingersoll"
    }
  ],
  "times_cited": 2,
  "tags": [
    "energy",
    "nuclear_power",
    "mechanical",
    "engineering"
  ],
  "abstract": "A method of loading fuel in multiple reactor cores associated with a plurality of fuel cycles. The method includes, in a first fuel cycle, loading a first reactor core with a first fuel assembly selected from a first batch of fuel, loading the first reactor core with a first partially spent fuel assembly from a second batch of fuel, loading a second reactor core with a second fuel assembly from the first batch of fuel, and loading the second reactor core with a second partially spent fuel assembly from the second batch of fuel. In a second fuel cycle, which is performed after a completion of the first fuel cycle, the method includes loading the second reactor core with a fresh fuel assembly, and loading the second reactor core with the first fuel assembly from the first batch of fuel.",
  "url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10818403/inter-module-fuel-shuffling",
  "markdown_url": "https://patentbrief.org/patent/us/10818403/inter-module-fuel-shuffling/md",
  "google_patents_url": "https://patents.google.com/patent/US10818403",
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}