GRILLE POUR ASSEMBLAGE COMBUSTIBLE NUCLEAIRE ET PLAQUETTE POUR UNE TELLE GRILLE

The grid (10) consists of intersecting plates (12, 14) assembled by means of regularly-spaced slots and incorporating supporting springs (22, 30) for the fuel rods between at least some pairs of slots. Each spring is made from two elastic strips (24) cut out of the flat surface of a plate and left in one piece with it. The strips extend in line with the grid flow are in their free state project into the cell; they are connected in the middle by a transverse bridge (26) which projects relative to them. The two elastic strips of at least some springs are joined together where they meet the plate and separate in the middle where they are connected by the bridges. The elastic strips forming some of the springs lie parallel to one another and the grid flow, and these springs back onto cells containing guide tubes (20).