Thermal analysis and design of dry storage cask of spent nuclear fuel

Abstract

According to thermal analysis of the existing concrete cask, the maximum temperature occurred at the upper side of cask. If the cask lid is made of concrete, the temperature of concrete in lid exceeds the allowable value. Based on that result, research is progressed focusing on two strategies - one is to increase thermal margin, another is to decrease the lid concrete temperature. Here, thermally - enhanced design is suggested and analyzed. This design features the air flow duct in the lid and the thermal shielding disk installed between canister and lid. Air flow duct on the center of lid concrete connected to existing air outlet can decrease temperature by promoting the convection heat transfer, and thermal shielding disk bearing smaller hole located on the center can maintain the increased convection heat transfer and minimize radiation heat transfer from canister to lid concrete for the lid concrete temperature not to be over the allowable value. Thermal analysis result for this design shows that it can be very successful to achieve these objectives. The overall component of cask temperature decrease by 2-10℃, and the lid concrete temperature dropped from above 100 to 87.5 ℃which is below the allowable value 93℃. In addition, heat removal of cask depending on distance between casks was investigated. Cask heat is removed by convection and radiation heat transfer at an external surface to environment. Naturally, these heat transfers are mainly affected by ambient temperature. The ambient temperature can be affected if the thermal boundary layer is overlapped. So, thermal boundary layer thickness of cask was calculated to estimate to see if the ambient temperature is affected by other cask. Boundary layer thickness is calculated is too small just about 5cm. It is concluded that distance between casks can do little impact on heat removal of cask in a practical view.