NUCLEAR REACTOR FUEL ELEMENT WITH HIGH BURN-UP AND METHOD OF PRODUCING THE SAME

A nuclear reactor fuel assembly with a high burnup is provided. In order to increase the burnup potential of fuel assemblies, pellets with an impermissibly high level of enrichment are produced on production lines, which are constructed for processing large quantities of normally enriched fuel. The impermissible level of enrichment is compensated for by the fact that, as early as in a powder mixer at an entry to the production line, so much absorber material is mixed with the fuel that the reactivity of the poisoned mixture does not exceed the reactivity of an unpoisoned fuel mixture with a normal level of enrichment. Corresponding fuel assemblies then contain relatively large quantities of these poisoned pellets (or only such poisioned pellets), which can be produced in large numbers (and therefore economically) by using conventional plants.