This study investigates the behavior of the thermal conductivity among material properties in order to develop a thermal evaluation methodology of spent fuel assembles in a transport cask. It is inefficient to model each element of the spent fuel assembly in detail, and it is generally calculated by modeling the effective thermal conductivity (ETC). The ETC model was developed to allow a much simpler representation of a spent fuel assembly within a fuel compartment by treating the entire spent fuel rod array and the surrounding fill gas within the confines of the compartment as a homogenous solid material. The fuel rod assembly and surrounding gas are modeled with an effective conductivity that is designed to yield an overall conduction heat transfer rate that is equivalent to the combined effect of local conduction and radiation heat transfer in a plane through the assembly. When this model is applied to the transport cask, it tends to predict the cladding peak temperature lower than the results of detailed model in which the fuel rod arrangement and shape of the fuel assembly are simulated. As for the tendency of the error, the model tended to under-predict when basket temperature was lower than a certain temperature, and over-predict when it was higher. The purpose of this study is to investigate the attenuation effect of the cladding peak temperature on the related variables when the ETC model is applied to the transport cask. In addition, based on the thermal characteristics of this model, a correction factor that can compensate for this attenuation effect is presented. This correction factor is obtained by finding the difference between a separate ETC homogeneous model and a separate detailed fuel model, rather than directly applying the ETC calculated from the detailed fuel model to the transport cask.

Corrosion products generated from the oxidation of structure materials are deposited on the surface of coolant systems, forming CRUD (Corrosion Related Unidentified Deposits). The CRUD deposition on the fuel surface has influenced the heat transfer through the fuel rod. When CRUD was deposited on a fuel surface, heat resistance may increase, and this increase in heat resistance leads to the increase in temperature distribution from cladding to coolant. Also, the temperature distribution is related to the radiolytic and chemical reactions within the CRUD deposits. This influence may be enough to change the pH distribution within the CRUD deposits. To estimate the influence of thermal resistance, the composition, microstructure, and vapor fraction within the CRUD should be considered, by investigating the thermal conductivity model of CRUD deposits. Therefore, in this study, the CRUD thermal conductivity was studied through the literature study, by considering composition, capillary flow characteristics, and vapor fraction. For the uncertainty parameters, a sensitivity study was conducted to check the degree of influence on thermal conductivity. The effective thermal conductivity was applied to the radiochemistry model within the CRUD deposits and an analysis of the influence in radiolysis reaction within the CRUD deposits with a fixed thickness.

구조모델의 하나인 Maxwell-Eucken(ME) 모델을 이용하여 불포화 다공성 매질의 유효열전도도를 예측할 수 있는 새로운 모델을 제시하였다. 제시된 모델은 기질, 물 그리고 공기가 각각 연속상으로 존재하는 경우에 해당하는 3개 ME모델의 선형조합으로 표현되며, 매질 내에서 각 성분의 상대적 연속성 정도를 나타내는 '연속성계수'의 개념을 도입하여 선형방정식의 계수로 이용하였다. 기질의 연속성계수는 공극률과 선형의 관계를, 물과 공기의 연속성계수는 포화도와 선형 또는 비선형의 관계를 갖는 것으로 가정하였다. 공극구조가 알려진 3개 시료에 대한 열전달 모사 결과와 3개 시료의 열전도도 실험 결과를 이용하여 제시된 모델의 신뢰성을 평가하였다. 6개 시료에 대한 모델 예측값의 결정계수(R2)는 선형모델의 경우 0.86-0.98, 비선형모델의 경우 0.88-0.99로 나타나 모델의 예측 신뢰도가 매우 높은 것으로 분석되었다. 또한, 6개 시료에 대한 분석 결과를 이용하여 기질의 연속성계수와 공극률과의 관계식을 제시하였다. 따라서 본 예측모델은 기질의 열전도도, 공극률 및 포화도로부터 불포화 다공성 매질의 유효열전도도를 계산하는 데 이용될 수 있다.