Spent fuel dry storage technology development: thermal evaluation of isolated drywells containing spent fuel (1 kW PWR spent fuel assembly)

A spent fuel Isolated Drywell Test was conducted at the Engine-Maintenance, Assembly and Disassembly (E-MAD) facility on the Nevada Test Site. Two PWR spent fuel assemblies having a decay heat level of approximately 1.1 kW were encapsulated inside the E-MAD Hot Bay and placed in instrumented near-surface drywell storage cells. Temperatures from the two isolated drywells and the adjacent soil have been recorded throughout the 19 month Isolated Drywell Test. Canister and drywell liner temperatures reached their peak values (254{sup 0}F and 203{sup 0}F, respectively) during August 1979. Thereafter, all temperatures decreased and showed a cycling pattern which responded to seasonal atmospheric temperature changes. A computer model was utilized to predict the thermal response of the drywell. Computer predictions of the drywell temperatures and the temperatures of the surrounding soil are presented and show good agreement with the test data