Abstract: Background: Working under extreme conditions, nuclear fuel rods, the key component of nuclear plants and reactors, are easy to be broken. In order to be safe in operation, lots of testing methods on the fuel rods have to be carried out from fabrication to operation. Purpose: Neutron radiography is a unique non-destructive testing technique which can be used to test samples with radioactivity. As the essential equipment, the nuclear fuel rod transport container has to shield the radioactivity of fuel rod and control its movement during testing and transporting. Methods: The shielding simulation of the transport container was performed using the MCNP4C code, which is a general purpose Monte Carlo code for calculating the time dependent multi-group energy transport equation for neutrons, photons and electrons in three dimensional geometries. Results: The material and dimension of the transport container used for neutron radiography testing fuel rods at Chinese Advanced Research Reactor (CARR) were optimally designed by MCNP, and the mechanical devices used to control fuel rods’ movement were also described. Conclusion: The 2-m long fuel rod can be tested at CARR’s neutron radiography facility (under construction) with this transport container.

Key words: Non-destructive testing, Neutron radiography, Nuclear fuel rod, Transport container