Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel
The duration and methods of intermediate storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) are the subject of constant debate due to economic, licensing and social problems. In this article, the authors present a description of the installation for studying heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage o...
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| Cite this: | Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel / M.V. Yatsenko, A.V. Korolyov // Problems of Atomic Science and Technology. — 2022. — № 2. — С. 109-112. — Бібліогр.: 7 назв. — англ. |
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Yatsenko, M.V. Korolyov, A.V. 2023-12-08T14:16:10Z 2023-12-08T14:16:10Z 2022 Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel / M.V. Yatsenko, A.V. Korolyov // Problems of Atomic Science and Technology. — 2022. — № 2. — С. 109-112. — Бібліогр.: 7 назв. — англ. 1562-6016 PACS: 28.41.Kw DOI: https://doi.org/10.46813/2022-138-109 https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/195951 The duration and methods of intermediate storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) are the subject of constant debate due to economic, licensing and social problems. In this article, the authors present a description of the installation for studying heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel. Presented a general description of the installation, as well as the planned scenario of the tests that will be carried out. Тривалість та методи проміжного зберігання відпрацьованого ядерного палива (ВЯП) є предметом постійних дискусій через економічні, ліцензійні та соціальні проблеми. У цій статті автори наводять опис стенду для дослідження питання теплообміну в гелієвому середовищі при сухому зберіганні ВЯП. Наведено загальний опис установки, а також планований сценарій випробувань, які будуть проводитися. Продолжительность и методы промежуточного хранения отработанного ядерного топлива (ОЯТ) являются предметом постоянных дискуссий из-за экономических, лицензионных и социальных проблем. В этой статье авторы приводят описание стенда для исследования вопроса теплообмена в гелиевой среде при сухом хранении ОЯТ. Представлены общее описание установки, а также планируемый сценарий испытаний, которые будут проводиться. en Національний науковий центр «Харківський фізико-технічний інститут» НАН України Вопросы атомной науки и техники Diagnostics and methods of research Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel Експериментальна установка для дослідження питань теплообміну в гелієвому середовищі при сухому зберіганні відпрацьованого ядерного палива Экспериментальная установка для исследования вопросов теплообмена в гелиевой среде при сухом хранении отработанного ядерного топлива Article published earlier |
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| title |
Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel |
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Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel Yatsenko, M.V. Korolyov, A.V. Diagnostics and methods of research |
| title_short |
Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel |
| title_full |
Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel |
| title_fullStr |
Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel |
| title_sort |
experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel |
| author |
Yatsenko, M.V. Korolyov, A.V. |
| author_facet |
Yatsenko, M.V. Korolyov, A.V. |
| topic |
Diagnostics and methods of research |
| topic_facet |
Diagnostics and methods of research |
| publishDate |
2022 |
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English |
| container_title |
Вопросы атомной науки и техники |
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Національний науковий центр «Харківський фізико-технічний інститут» НАН України |
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Article |
| title_alt |
Експериментальна установка для дослідження питань теплообміну в гелієвому середовищі при сухому зберіганні відпрацьованого ядерного палива Экспериментальная установка для исследования вопросов теплообмена в гелиевой среде при сухом хранении отработанного ядерного топлива |
| description |
The duration and methods of intermediate storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) are the subject of constant debate due to economic, licensing and social problems. In this article, the authors present a description of the installation for studying heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel. Presented a general description of the installation, as well as the planned scenario of the tests that will be carried out.
Тривалість та методи проміжного зберігання відпрацьованого ядерного палива (ВЯП) є предметом постійних дискусій через економічні, ліцензійні та соціальні проблеми. У цій статті автори наводять опис стенду для дослідження питання теплообміну в гелієвому середовищі при сухому зберіганні ВЯП. Наведено загальний опис установки, а також планований сценарій випробувань, які будуть проводитися.
Продолжительность и методы промежуточного хранения отработанного ядерного топлива (ОЯТ) являются предметом постоянных дискуссий из-за экономических, лицензионных и социальных проблем. В этой статье авторы приводят описание стенда для исследования вопроса теплообмена в гелиевой среде при сухом хранении ОЯТ. Представлены общее описание установки, а также планируемый сценарий испытаний, которые будут проводиться.
|
| issn |
1562-6016 |
| url |
https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/195951 |
| citation_txt |
Experimental installation for the study of heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel / M.V. Yatsenko, A.V. Korolyov // Problems of Atomic Science and Technology. — 2022. — № 2. — С. 109-112. — Бібліогр.: 7 назв. — англ. |
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2025-11-26T00:09:23Z |
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2025-11-26T00:09:23Z |
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| fulltext |
ISSN 1562-6016. ВАНТ. 2022. №2(138) 109
https://doi.org/10.46813/2022-138-109
EXPERIMENTAL INSTALLATION FOR THE STUDY OF HEAT
TRANSFER IN HELIUM ENVIRONMENT DURING DRY STORAGE
OF SPENT NUCLEAR FUEL
M.V. Yatsenko, A.V. Korolyov
National University “Odessa Polytechnic”, Odessa, Ukraine
E-mail: yatsbb@gmail.com; tel. +38(095)725-02-22
The duration and methods of intermediate storage of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) are the subject of constant debate
due to economic, licensing and social problems. In this article, the authors present a description of the installation for
studying heat transfer in helium environment during dry storage of spent nuclear fuel. Presented a general description
of the installation, as well as the planned scenario of the tests that will be carried out.
PACS: 28.41.Kw
INTRODUCTION
Nowadays there are 15 PWR (WWER) units in oper-
ation in Ukraine. Historically, Ukraine implemented a
scheme for transferring spent fuel to the Russian plants
in Ozersk and Zheleznogorsk for reprocessing by chemi-
cal extraction of valuable products (plutonium isotopes)
for further involvement of these products into the fuel cy-
cle repeatedly. This scheme showed its inefficiency, and
in time, it was decided to refuse to export SNF to the Rus-
sian Federation and to store fuel in the territory of
Ukraine. The first site to stop sending fuel for repro-
cessing was Zaporizhzhya NPP, which implemented a
project to build a dry SNF storage facility in 2001. The
interim spent nuclear fuel facility at Zaporizhzhya NPP
has operation license for 50 years of storage. The storage
facility was designed to store about 9200 Spent Fuel As-
semblies (SFAs) in 380 containers. Technology is based
on storing SFA in a vertical concrete cask (VSC-24) [1].
Later, a decision was made to build a Centralized Storage
Facility for Spent Nuclear Fuel (CSFNF) from VVER re-
actors in the Exclusion Zone. The construction of the
Centralized storage of spent nuclear fuel started in 2015.
This facility will apply the technology of Holtec Interna-
tional. Multipurpose Canister (MPC) will be loaded with
31 WWER-1000 SFA or 85 WWER-440 SFA. Using HI-
TRAC transfer cask, MPC will be loaded into the HI-
STAR transport cask and will be transported horizontally
to storage site at Chernobyl exclusion zone by rail. Then,
in the cask receiving building, MPC will be loaded into
HI-STORM vertical concrete storage system. Storage fa-
cility has 100 years operation license. It is planned to
store 16529 SFAs in 480 HI-STORM casks at the site [2].
On August 2, 2021, the first loading of SNF took
place in the dry storage facility of the Chernobyl NPP.
The Interim Spent Nuclear Fuel Dry Storage Facility
(ISF-2) is necessary for storing and packing of about
21000 SFA, 2000 spent additional absorbers and more
than 23000 extension rods, transported from Chernobyl
NPP Units 1, 2, 3 and from “wet” type ISF-1.
Storage technology also based on Holtec Interna-
tional design. Loaded with fuel, Double Wall Canister
(DWC) is stored in a horizontal concrete module on the
storage site [3].
SNF storage safety is based on five key aspects: en-
suring the subcriticality of spent fuel assemblies, compli-
ance with radiation safety standards, not exceeding the
allowable storage temperatures of fuel assemblies, ensur-
ing the strength and durability of SNF container struc-
tures [4].
Despite the fact that the SNF storage container is a
passive system in terms of safety and there have been no
serious threats to the safety of personnel environment
throughout the history of SNF management, special at-
tention at this stage of nuclear industry development
should be paid to studying safety risks at the stage of SNF
storage.
There are several reasons for this:
• Continuous growth of spent nuclear fuel;
• Storage facility operational lifetime of 50 years or
more;
• Tendency to increase the initial enrichment of fuel
assemblies and the burnup.
It is now recognized that extensive computational ex-
periments are required to verify that the storage system
design meets the established safety criteria. Calculation
tools include CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics)
codes – programs of computational fluid dynamics, soft-
ware packages based on the Monte-Carlo method to cal-
culate SNF subcriticality, various codes for modeling the
process of ionizing radiation transfer to confirm radiation
safety [5].
At the same time, the issue of the experimental base
and the conduct of full-scale experiments on models un-
der laboratory conditions within the scope of SNF man-
agement remains unresolved. In particular, it is important
to study the degradation mechanisms of SFAs and con-
tainer, as well as issues related to normal operation and
emergencies.
In the absence of access to work with ionizing radia-
tion sources and given the fact that most of the degrada-
tion processes are associated with temperature changes,
and the course of emergency scenarios somehow affects
the temperature change of the fuel cladding and container
structures, the real need is to create experimental facili-
ties to study thermal processes during dry SNF storage.
mailto:yatsbb@gmail.com
110 ISSN 1562-6016. ВАНТ. 2022. №2(138)
OVERVIEW OF EXISTING
INSTALLATIONS
Taking into account the increasing popularity of us-
ing the dry SNF storage method in the world, the coun-
tries that are leaders in the development of nuclear tech-
nologies are relatively involved in the experimental jus-
tification of SFA storage safety in terms of thermal char-
acteristics. Traditionally, the leader in this area is the
United States.
As an example, it is worth mentioning a facility for
research of thermal conditions of dry storage of boiling
reactor fuel on the basis of Sandia National Laboratory.
The purpose of this facility is to determine the steady-
state temperatures of the stored fuel with different char-
acteristics (enrichment, burnup, storage time in the near-
reactor pool) and to confirm the integrity of the fuel as-
sembly during long-term storage. The facility consists of
a shell with a 4.57-meter-high stainless-steel tube, inside
which a heating element – fuel assembly simulator is in-
stalled. Total power of the heating element is 2.5 kW. The
helium pressure in the stainless tube varies in the range
of 100…700 kPa. Scientists used 150 thermocouples in-
stalled at different locations to measure the temperature.
The measured parameters were the airflow rate, which
cools the outside part of the tube with a heater inside, he-
lium pressure, the maximum temperature of the heating
element, and the maximum temperature of the stainless
tube. Calculation parameters were Nusselt, Rayleigh and
Reynolds numbers [6]. Schematically, the installation is
shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1. SNL installation. From left to right:
1 – fuel assembly simulator; 2 – fuel assembly shroud
simulator (a structural element of the boiling vessel
reactors); 3, 4 – assembled installation with nozzles
for helium supply
Another example – the installation by NSE Technol-
ogy (South Korea), which was created as part of the work
of developing a leak detection method for monitoring the
integrity of SNF dry storage casks. The main task of the
facility was to study thermal processes in vertical dry
storage casks, to establish correlation between internal
helium pressure, maximum fuel temperature and canister
wall temperature. The installation is a 1:3 scale storage
container to the real size, with one, mounted in the mid-
dle, simulator of fuel assembly. The thermocouples
mounted along the height of the simulator at 5 points. The
heater's power is 1.7 kW. The helium pressure inside the
canister varied in order to simulate leakage in the range
of 0…0.46 MPa. The external cooling air temperature
was 16 °С. More than 80 calculation experiments carried
out on this facility [7]. The scheme of the facility and the
photo shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2. NSE Technology installation.
From left to right: 1 – installation diagram,
2 – general view of the complete installation
PROCESS OF CREATION OF EXPERI-
MENTAL INSTALLATION
Taking into account significant amounts of spent nu-
clear fuel unloaded from WWER reactors of Ukrainian
NPPs and operational lifetime of ZNPP SF and CSFNF
(50 and 100 years respectively) the issues of safety of
SNF storage, in particular the issues of integrity of the
canister with SFAs over a long period of time are of high
importance.
As part of the work on the thesis at the National Uni-
versity “Odessa Polytechnic” in 2020–2021 an experi-
mental installation to study the heat exchange process in
the SNF storage container was created. Also, it was de-
veloped a program of experiments, including studies of
both normal operation conditions and emergency situa-
tions.
The materials used to build and operate the
installation are the same as those used in the Holtec
Intrernational canister.
Installation is a tube with diameter of 85 mm (thick-
ness – 5 mm) made of stainless steel (08KH18N10T), in
which the electric heater, heat source (SFA simulator), is
placed. At the ends of the tube, there are two flanges: the
upper flange is fixed by six bolts M6, the lower flange is
welded by argon-arc welding. The height of the assem-
bled installation is 1440 mm. The installation stabilized
on a stand for easy access.
The diameter of the upper flange is 115 mm; the
thickness in the area of attachment to the tube is 25 mm.
On the upper flange, there is a 220 V power supply
1 2 3 4
ISSN 1562-6016. ВАНТ. 2022. №2(138) 111
socket, which also serves as a supporting segment for the
heating element. The heater connected to the power sup-
ply through a special screw-in contact. On the right side,
there is a welded socket for installation of a 16 kgf/cm2
pressure gauge. On the left, there is a welded socket for
an experimental slot (a device, used in experiments, re-
lated to helium flow).
Helium, as in a real canister, is necessary to remove
heat from the SFA. In our case, it is a heating element.
The helium pressure will be set within 7 atm, which cor-
responds to the technical specification of the Holtec can-
ister.
Valve for helium pressure release is also supposed to
be set instead of the slot. General view of the upper part
of the installation, namely the upper flange with a branch
tube for installation of measuring equipment is shown in
Fig. 3.
Fig. 3. Upper segment of the experimental setup
(longitudinal section):
1 – electric aluminum heater; 2 – manometer;
3 – upper flange (fastened to the tube with bolts
M6), 4 - flange for installation of experimental slit;
5 – heater fastening element to the upper part of the
flange; 6 – upper part of the flange with branch tube for
instruments
The heater is two aluminum tubes with spiral fins
connected together. The maximum temperature of the
heater is 350 °C and is constant along the entire length of
the heater. This simulates the thermophysical conditions
of spent nuclear fuel storage inside a steel canister. The
temperature will be measured by an infrared portable
thermometer along the entire height of the outer wall of
the installation.
The bottom segment fixed to the tube by argon-arc
welding. The heater installed in the bottom of the lower
segment by screwing it into a hole with M12 thread. A
reducer attached to the helium inlet in order to change
pressure of helium flow. Helium will be supplied through
a flexible pipeline from a gas cylinder.
Fig. 4. Lower segment of the experimental setup
(longitudinal section):
1 – helium inlet pipe; 2 – heating element (installed
in the lower flange); 3 – lower flange
It should be noted, that the unit is easily upgradable
and during tests, some design changes are possible as re-
quired for specific requirements and test tasks.
EXPECTED TEST SCENARIOS
A steady-state test at a standard pressure planned to
determine the benchmark results. First, a pressure of
7 atm and its subsequent retention over a long period of
time must be ensured. If there are problems with pressure
retention, additional gaskets and seals must be used when
assembling the installation. After stable values of pres-
sure and temperature of the outer wall of the tube and
when the outside air temperature is established, it is nec-
essary to calculate the heat exchange of free helium con-
vection inside the tube, considering laminar gas flow.
After initial temperature and pressure values are es-
tablished, several experiments planned in order to calcu-
late the characteristics of heat exchange at different pres-
sure values (75, 50, and 25% of the design pressure). It is
also necessary to determine the flow characteristics at
different helium concentrations in the tube, to determine
the characteristics of laminar flow in the tube. Addition-
ally, it is possible to conduct experiments with different
heater power in order to create curves of heat exchange
characteristics dependence on parameters of pressure and
heater temperature.
It is important to find out the change in the steel tem-
perature, taking into account the possible change in he-
lium pressure, which will help to determine the thermal
behavior of the canister material under different cooling
conditions.
In order to account emergency scenarios of spent nu-
clear fuel storage, experiments are planned with a helium
leak simulator (a slit of a set diameter), in which a plug
with a hole of a few µm will be placed on the upper flange
to obtain a stable helium flow from the pipe over a period
of time. The above-mentioned characteristics will be cal-
culated, as well as the helium flow rate through the slot
in order to determine the dependences of the heat ex-
change on the helium flow rate.
These experiments will make it possible to determine
the peculiarities of helium heat exchange during free con-
vection inside a stainless-steel tube, to establish depend-
ences of heat еxchange characteristics on changing pa-
112 ISSN 1562-6016. ВАНТ. 2022. №2(138)
rameters (helium pressure, helium flow rate, heater ca-
pacity, ambient temperature) in order to identify the main
recommendations for increasing thermal safety during
storage of spent nuclear fuel.
CONCLUSIONS
This article presented the status of spent nuclear fuel
management in Ukraine and described the problem of
creating an experimental base to investigate the thermal
safety of SNF storage in the world and in Ukraine. Ap-
proaches for the creation of experimental facilities and
the characteristics and description of existing models in
the USA and South Korea were given. The research fa-
cility created to study the issues of thermal safety of SNF
storage in ONPU was also presented, its key characteris-
tics and parameters were described and shown, a prelim-
inary list of the ongoing research with a description of the
expected results was given.
REFERENCES
1. Y. Pechera. Spent Fuel Storage Facility of Za-
porizhzhya NPP, Creation, Licensing, Operation // Inter-
national Conference on Storage of Spent Fuel from
Power Reactors, Vienna, Austria, 2–6 June 2003.
2. M. Yatsenko. Spent VVER fuel management and
characterization // IAEA Technical Meeting on Spent Nu-
clear Characterization, Vienna, Austria: 12–14 Novem-
ber 2019.
3. https://chnpp.gov.ua/en/184-projects/current-pro-
jects/434-2434 (accessed 18.05.2022).
4. NP 306.2.105-2004. The basic provisions to en-
sure the safety of interim dry storage facilities for spent
nuclear fuel. Registered with the Ministry of Justice of
Ukraine on 17.01.2005 under No. 49/10329.
5. M. Frankova, Yu. Vorobjov, M. Vishemirsky,
O. Zhabin. Development of a Long-Term Storage Con-
tainer Model for the VVER-1000 Reactor Heat and Vi-
bration Calculations for the ANSYS CFX Software De-
vice // Nuclear and Radiation Safety. 2017, N 2(74),
p. 20-23.
6. E. Lindgren, S. Durbin. Materials and Dimen-
sional Reference Handbook for the Boiling Water Reac-
tor Dry Cask Simulator (NSAND2017-13058R,
1559567), 2017.
7. Hyong Chol Kim, Sam Hee Han, Young Jin Lee.
Integrity monitoring method for dry storage casks using
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Article received 14.01.2022
ЕКСПЕРИМЕНТАЛЬНА УСТАНОВКА ДЛЯ ДОСЛІДЖЕННЯ ПИТАНЬ ТЕПЛООБМІНУ
В ГЕЛІЄВОМУ СЕРЕДОВИЩІ ПРИ СУХОМУ ЗБЕРІГАННІ
ВІДПРАЦЬОВАНОГО ЯДЕРНОГО ПАЛИВА
М.В. Яценко, А.В. Корольов
Тривалість та методи проміжного зберігання відпрацьованого ядерного палива (ВЯП) є предметом постій-
них дискусій через економічні, ліцензійні та соціальні проблеми. У цій статті автори наводять опис стенду
для дослідження питання теплообміну в гелієвому середовищі при сухому зберіганні ВЯП. Наведено загаль-
ний опис установки, а також планований сценарій випробувань, які будуть проводитися.
ЭКСПЕРИМЕНТАЛЬНАЯ УСТАНОВКА ДЛЯ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЯ ВОПРОСОВ
ТЕПЛООБМЕНА В ГЕЛИЕВОЙ СРЕДЕ ПРИ СУХОМ ХРАНЕНИИ
ОТРАБОТАННОГО ЯДЕРНОГО ТОПЛИВА
М.В. Яценко, А.В. Королёв
Продолжительность и методы промежуточного хранения отработанного ядерного топлива (ОЯТ) явля-
ются предметом постоянных дискуссий из-за экономических, лицензионных и социальных проблем. В этой
статье авторы приводят описание стенда для исследования вопроса теплообмена в гелиевой среде при сухом
хранении ОЯТ. Представлены общее описание установки, а также планируемый сценарий испытаний, кото-
рые будут проводиться.
https://chnpp.gov.ua/en/184-projects/current-projects/434-2434
https://chnpp.gov.ua/en/184-projects/current-projects/434-2434
ISSN 1562-6016. ВАНТ. 2022. №2(138) 113
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