Numerical Prediction of Radiation Heat Transfer in Spent Fuel Assembly Based on Network Method for Multi-surface Enclosure

Spent fuel assemblies in sodium-cooled fast reactor will be exposed in gas environment during transport process, leading to the worse heat transfer performance distinctly. For purpose of predicting the temperature distribution of spent fuel assemblies in gas environment, especially preventing the highest temperature of cladding exceeding the design limits, a numerical model was established based on network method for multi-surface enclosure, and a code intended for numerical analysis was developed based on this model. Reliability of the code was verified due to the comparison with experimental data of 37-rod simulated assembly. The code was confirmed to be more conservative than the Manteufel-Todreas correlation while comparing the predicting result of both. In addition, the temperature distributions under uniform-heating condition and nonuniform-heating condition were compared, and the influences of heating power and surface emissivity on temperature were analyzed.