In the context of resource conservation, incineration of domestic wastes is a technique allowing an interesting potential in energy valorization. However, because of the variability (annual, monthly) in quality and quantity of raw material, one of the characteristics of waste incineration cogeneration power plants is their frequent partial or excess loading. In order to describe their behaviour at these non-nominal loads, there is a need for simulation tools which predict with accuracy the behaviour of the principal components of the plant at these loads. This paper presents an original approach for predicting the heat transfer in a waste incinerator. In particular, the model developed is applied to and validated with measurements from a waste incinerator located at the Cottendart waste incineration cogeneration power plant in Switzerland. The part of the incinerator studied is characterized by high gas temperatures (1 000-500°C) for which radiative heat transfer represents the most important part of the global heat exchange. A three-dimensional model using nodal analysis is proposed. The radiative heat exchange is treated using the zone method. With a fine enough mesh, the behaviour of the system in regions far from the nominal point can be predicted with very high accuracy. This paper describes the model and the simulation results. © Elsevier.