Analysis of the Actively Cooled Vault Within the Los Alamos Nuclear Materials Storage Facility
- Los Alamos National Laboratory
The Nuclear Materials Storage Facility (NMSF) at Los Alamos National Laboratory is being renovated to store containers designed to hold heat-generating nuclear materials. This facility consists of two storage areas: the passively cooled vault and the walk-in vault, which is actively cooled. The temperature of the containers stored in the walk-in vault is of great importance for safety and reliability reasons. These containers generate heat due to natural radioactive decay, and therefore may overheat without an adequate ventilation system. Forced convection is used to remove heat from the surface of the containers to maintain the nuclear material within its specified temperature limits. For the active, forced-flow cooling analysis, a steady-state, 3-D, CFD model has been generated using the CFX-4.2 commercial software package. Trade studies have been performed investigating the locations of the HVAC supply and return ducts. The results of these trade studies indicate preferred supply and return duct locations to minimize hot spots on the containers.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Defense Programs (DP)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 761427
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-99-2222; CONF-990805—
- Journal Information:
- Proceedings of the 33. National Heat Transfer Conference NHTC'99; Albuquerque, NM (United States); Paper NHTC, 99.163; American Society of Mechanical Engineers; New York, NY (United States), Journal Name: Proceedings of the 33. National Heat Transfer Conference NHTC'99; Albuquerque, NM (United States); Paper NHTC, 99.163; American Society of Mechanical Engineers; New York, NY (United States)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Material handling for the Los Alamos National Laboratory Nuclear Material Storage Facility
General heat transfer characterization and empirical models of material storage temperatures for the Los Alamos Nuclear Materials Storage Facility