Apparatus for assembling and welding end plugs to nuclear fuel cladding tubes and inspecting the end plug welds on an automated basis

Abstract From the Canadian patent

In an automated first weld apparatus, a transporter conveys nuclear fuel cladding tubes successively to a welding station where a separate end plug is welded to the open end of each tube. Thereafter the transporter indexes the tubes, successively through a cooldown station where the weld is cooled, to a reader station where a unique end plug serial number is read, and thence to a succession of inspection stations where the internal and external weld characteristics are automatically examined. The resulting inspection data is correlated with the associated serial number for record purposes and tested against quality assurance standards pursuant to sorting the tubes into accepted and rejected …