THERMAL ANALYSIS OF DRY STORAGE AND TRANSPORTATION CASKS CASTOR USING COBRA-SFS

Abstract

State Office for Nuclear Safety is a regulator body in the Czech Republic handling also licensing of storage and transportation casks (SCs) of the spent nuclear fuel (SNF). One of the main concerns for the dry storage of SNF is the safe removal of the residual heat resulting from the decay of fission products, actinides, and activated construction materials. There are many storage systems in use around the world with different storage configuration, fuel designs and boundary conditions that need to be evaluated. Two thermal models of SNF storage casks CASTOR 440/84 and CASTOR 440/84M were developed using the COBRA-SFS code, which is an internationally accepted and validated code used for licensing of dry storage casks and safety evaluation. The casks are in operation at the Nuclear Power Plant Dukovany for dry storage of the WWER-440 SNF. Both models were validated and used for evaluation of several problems in different configuration and particularly for licensing purposes at the SUJB.