Structural Design of Large Vertical Spent Fuel Dry Storage Module

Abstract

CANSTOR is the large vertical spent fuel dry storage module developed at AECL CANDU for the storage of irradiated fuel from nuclear power plants. The heat removal concept used is based on convection cooling and has proven to be more effective than conduction through a thickness of concrete. The more effective heat removal results in reduced temperature differentials across the wall thickness and in lower reinforcement requirements. The structure consists of a concrete base slab, walls and a roof with inlet and outlet openings for cooling air circulation. This paper describes the analysis and design of the CANSTOR module using the finite element method.