The part of the Castor® contributed by BUTTING – the container – serves mainly to fix the position of the fuel elements. Depending on the intended use, special containers are produced for fuel elements from pressurised water, boiling water, experimental and research reactors. Here the construction is set so rigidly that even under the most serious strains caused by an accident, no damage takes place, and thus inadmissible contact of the individual fuel elements is prevented.
Holger Fabisch from Sales Energy Technology, explains the requirements: “A container of this type consists of up to 300 individual parts. Experienced employees produce each component according to tightly monitored tolerances. Tolerance checks are carried out using a gauge for the inside of the single shafts and the outside of the entire container. The tolerances across the circumference of the container are of utmost importance as it will be inserted into a mechanically processed vessel. This type of vessel construction requires high qualifications.”
BUTTING has continued investing until today in the production facilities for the Castor® V/19 container type: Production processes have been optimised, new welding processes employed and a number of jobs have been created to adapt capacity to demand. As a result of the increase in productivity, a total of 100 containers of this type have been produced under a new licence and successfully delivered in a period of around two years. This corresponds to a throughput of more than 3 containers a month. In recent months, output has been increased considerably to 4 to 6 containers a month.
BUTTING – Progress by Tradition