PNNL

Abstract

Temperature measurements obtained for two storage modules in the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Station’s Independent Spent Fuel Storage Installation (ISFSI) as part of the Used Fuel Disposition Campaign of the Department of Energy (DOE) were used to perform validation and sensitivity studies on detailed computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models of the concrete storage modules, including the dry storage canister within the modules. The storage modules in the Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Station’s ISFSI are a site-specific version of the standard NUHOMS® HSM. The two modules inspected each contained a 24P DSC loaded with 24 CE 14x14 spent fuel assemblies. The thermal analysis was performed using the STAR-CCM+ package, and the models developed for the specific ISFSI modules yielded temperature predictions in actual storage conditions for the concrete structure, the DSC and its contents, including preliminary estimates of fuel cladding temperatures for the used nuclear fuel. The results of this work demonstrate that existing CFD modeling tools can be used to obtain reasonable and accurate detailed representations of spent fuel storage systems with realistic decay heat loadings when the model omits specific conservatisms and bounding assumptions normally used in design-basis and safety-basis calculations. This paper presents sensitivity studies on modeling detail (for the storage module and the DSC), boundary conditions, and decay heat load, to evaluate the effect of the modeling approach on predicted temperatures and temperature distributions. Because nearly all degradation mechanisms for materials and structures comprising dry storage and transportation systems are dependent on temperature, accurate characterization of local temperatures and temperature gradients that the various components of these systems will experience over the entire storage period has been identified as a primary requirement for evaluation of very long term storage of used nuclear fuel.