Change of spent fuel racks of Jose Cabrera NNPP

The Jose Cabrera NPP began the Change of Spent Fuel Racks after a Viability Study, in April 1996 with the adjudication of the contract to the Consortium SIEMENS-ENSA, finishing it in May 1988. This paper describe the phases of the project, taking in mind the specific particularities of the installation and the heavy load movement study which required to make specific calculations and designs. The final license requirements have special importance: they have obliged to install a new redundant motor-pump and the substitution of one of the heat exchanger of the spent fuel pool system. The old design documentation had to be revised to include the update norms and codes, the new seismic spectra of the pool, the real operation conditions and the thermal load of the pool. Besides a mechanical study of compatibility of rack-fuel element was carried out; its conclusions about fuel element deformation by irradiation and insertion-extraction load of fuel element onto the racks, lead fabrication to bigger rack cells and reduced the tolerances of fabrication. Finally, real data were taken and they confirmed that the function of the fabricated new racks are good enough compared with the required design. (Author)