Media & Resources

Bottom Nozzle Debris Elimination (BNDE™)

May 26, 2020

Similar to HE-UFC™, BNDE™ uses a combination of ultrasonic energy and reverse flow to effectively clean fuel bundles. However, ultrasonic energy is applied only to the fuel bundle bottom nozzle to remove debris and foreign material in order to prevent and/or mitigate debris-related fuel failures. BNDE™ does not remove activated corrosion products from the fuel rods and therefore does not provide the radiological benefits of HE-UFC™. BNDE™ and HE-UFC™ require similar time and resources during refueling outages. Both HE-UFC™ and BNDE™ are considered industry best practices for maintaining fuel performance and reliability, and both technologies have been applied in order to address INPO IER-L2-19-6 (Preventing Debris-Induced Fuel Failure).