In-drift natural convection analysis of the low temperature operating mode design.

Journal Article · Fri Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2003 · Proposed for publication in Nuclear Technology.

OSTI ID:1003896

Webb, Stephen Walter; Itamura, Michael Takeshi

Yucca Mountain has been designated as the nation's high-level radioactive waste repository, and the U.S. Department of Energy has been approved to apply to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a license to construct a repository. The temperature and humidity inside the emplacement drift will affect the degradation rate of the waste packages and waste forms as well as the quantity of water available to transport dissolved radionuclides out of the waste canister. Thermal radiation and turbulent natural convection are the main modes of heat transfer inside the drift. This paper presents the result of three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics simulations of a segment of emplacement drift. The model contained the three main types of waste packages and was run at the time that the peak waste package temperatures are expected. Results show that thermal radiation is the dominant mode of heat transfer inside the drift. Natural convection affects the variation in surface temperature on the hot waste packages and can account for a large fraction of the heat transfer for the colder waste packages. The paper also presents the sensitivity of model results to uncertainties in several input parameters. The sensitivity study shows that the uncertainty in peak waste package temperatures due to in-drift parameters is <3 C.

• Research Organization: Sandia National Laboratories
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC04-94AL85000
• OSTI ID: 1003896
• Report Number(s): SAND2003-2816J
• Journal Information: Proposed for publication in Nuclear Technology., Journal Name: Proposed for publication in Nuclear Technology. Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 148; ISSN 0029-5450; ISSN NUTYBB
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
DESIGN
FLUID MECHANICS
HEAT TRANSFER
HIGH-LEVEL RADIOACTIVE WASTES
HUMIDITY
NATURAL CONVECTION
POSITIONING
RADIOISOTOPES
SENSITIVITY
THERMAL RADIATION
TRANSPORT
WASTE FORMS
WASTES
WATER
YUCCA MOUNTAIN