Fuel cell container cooling system

A fuel cell assembly (10) comprises a container (14), configured to be pressurized. A fuel cell (12) is disposed in the container (14) and a thermal shield (16) substantially surrounds an inner periphery (58) of the container (14) to provide generally uniform thermal shielding around the fuel cell (12). The thermal shield (16) is disposed between the container (14) and the fuel cell (12) and is spaced from the container (14) to form a flow path (44) therebetween for a cooling fluid