Unsteady heat exchange at the dry spent nuclear fuel storage

Unsteady thermal processes in storage containers with spent nuclear fuel were modeled. The daily fluctuations of outer ambient temperatures were taken into account. The modeling approach, which is based on the solving of conjugate and inverse heat transfer problems, was verified by comparison of measured and calculated temperatures in outer channels. The time delays in the reaching of maximal temperatures for each spent fuel assembly were calculated. Results of numerical investigations show that daily fluctuation of outer temperatures does not have a large influence on the maximal temperatures of stored spent fuel, so that fluctuation can be neglected and only daily average temperature should be considered for safety estimation using the “best estimation” approach.