Heat Transfer Analysis in a Shielding Layer of TRUPACT-II Container using COMSOL Multiphysics

Abstract

Radioactive Waste production is one of the major drawbacks of nuclear energy. These radioactive wastes emit harmful ionizing radiation, which may significantly damage the environment and all living creatures.  A substantial part of these waste inventories is comprised of transuranic radionuclides. Due to having a long half-life, these transuranic radio nuclides generate a significant amount of heat, which makes the consideration of the thermal properties of material very crucial while developing a transuranic waste container. This study investigates the thermal performance of the TRUPACT-II container, a widely used container for transuranic waste storage. This type of container uses Lead as shielding material and Steel as an outer layer. A two-dimensional steady-state heat transfer simulation uses COMSOL Multiphysics to conduct this research. Heat transfer is solid and is opted as the physics to study. The assigned material was Lead covered with a thin layer of Steel. The prime motivation behind this work is to visualize the thermal shielding effectiveness of the shielding material of the TRUPACT-II container when high-level transuranic wastes are stored by analyzing temperature distribution, heat flux, and maximum/minimum temperatures within the lead shielding layer. The result is validated by running simulation in different mesh element size. Visualization of this result will aid in optimizing material selection and design consideration for future radioactive waste container development. Above all, the findings of this research will make an impactful contribution to the efficient management of radioactive wastes in case of risk associated with heat generation and thermal stress.