Thermal analysis of a spent fuel transportation cask

P. Goyal[1], V. Verma[1], R. K. Singh[1], and A. K. Ghosh[1]
[1]Reactor Safety Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, India
Published in 2009

Spent fuel transportation casks are required to meet among others (test conditions), the regulatory thermal test conditions in order to demonstrate their ability to withstand specified accidental fire conditions during transport. This paper describes the transient thermal analysis performed with the above intention for a transportation cask. The analysis was carried out using COMSOL Multiphysics code employing the Finite Element Method (FEM). The computation covers normal transport condition,and half an hour fire test at 800°C. The objective of the analysis was to determine the maximumouter surface temperature for normal transport conditions and to assess the extent of melting of lead during fire period.

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