Demonstration of Heat Dissipation Performance of Copper Plate in Engineered Barrier System

Minsoo Lee^*, Jin-Seop Kim, Min-Seop Kim, Seok Yoon

Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, 111, Daedeok-daero 989beon-gil, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34057, Republic of Korea

Received 2024-01-22 ; Revised 2024-02-16 ; Approved 2024-02-26

Abstract

In this study, we demonstrate in a small-scale experiment that introducing a thin copper heat dissipation plate into the bentonite buffer layer is an effective way to reduce the maximum temperature of the bentonite buffer in an engineered barrier system for spent nuclear fuel disposal. In the small-scale experiment, the reduction in the maximum buffer temperature was only 1.8°C when a flat copper plate was applied at 250W power supply. However, when a U-collar copper plate with good contact with other barriers was applied, the maximum surface temperature reduction was very high to 9.1°C. Consequently, it was concluded that the application of copper plates to the engineered barrier system is a very effective way to reduce the maximum buffer temperature at HLW disposal repository.

Key Words : Disposal canister, Heat dissipation, Copper plate, Thermal conductivity, Bentonite buffer