Evaluation and optimization of fuel storage system using computational fluid dynamics
- PBMR, P.O. Box 9396, Centurion 0046 (South Africa)
The Pebble Bed Modular Reactor (PBMR) is one of the leading new generation nuclear power plants to be commercialised in the near future. As in the past, nuclear waste in the form of spent fuel, which is generated by nuclear power plants, is always a contentious issue in terms of safety. At present the PBMR design proposes to make use of spent fuel storage tanks located in the building to store the spent fuel that is used during the 40 years of operation and also to safely store the used fuel during maintenance. The heat load generated by the decay heat in the fuel has a significant impact on the safety and therefore impacts on the tank design. While ensuring that the spent and used fuel remains sub critical at all times, the fuel temperatures and storage tank structure should not exceed the prescribed maximum temperatures. It is further envisaged that the fuel storage system, should under upset events, be able to operate utilising only passive means of heat removal. The purpose of this paper is to present the design and analyses work that has been performed to evaluate and optimise the proposed fuel storage system for the PBMR plant. Analyses have been performed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD). Simulation results are presented for active and passive operation. A comparative simulation is also performed using a different CFD code in order qualitatively assess and compare the CFD results. (authors)
- Research Organization:
- American Nuclear Society, 555 North Kensington Avenue, La Grange Park, IL 60526 (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 21160805
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ICAPP'04: 2004 international congress on advances in nuclear power plants, Pittsburgh, PA (United States), 13-17 Jun 2004; Other Information: Country of input: France; 5 refs; Related Information: In: Proceedings of the 2004 international congress on advances in nuclear power plants - ICAPP'04, 2338 pages.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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