ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 3 -- United States Patent no. 12,567,508, issued on March 3, was assigned to FRAMATOME (Courbevoie, France).
"Method for maintaining a nuclear reactor" was invented by Alexandre Dupuis (Cantin, France), Eddy Szczurek (Le Quesnoy, France) and Mickael Lallier (Clairfayts, France).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A maintenance method is applied to a nuclear reactor having a drive assembly for a control rod assembly. The drive assembly includes a casing for receiving a drive rod lifting mechanism and a sheath for receiving the drive rod. A first lip is at an upper end of the casing, and a second lip is at a lower end of the sheath. The lips are welded together forming a seal b...