Direct ultimate disposal of spent fuel. Simulation of shaft transport. Experimental facility for simulation of the shaft transport (TA 3)

On the basis of the conceptual design of a shaft hoisting equipment for a max. payload of 85 t, the components not yet confirmed to be state-of-the-art were designed for the planned facility and were incorporated into the experimental facility. This full-scale experimental facility comprises the charging area, covering the car port in front of the first, outer airlock after transport of the container through a cross-cut tunnel up to the hoisting cage. The processes designed and tested comply with reality up to the point where the hoisting cage should be accelerating to the designed shaft transport velocity of 5 m/s. The next process following the charging process is a pulling process, ending at the ready-for-charging position. As the pulling hoistway is of the same design as the charging hoistway and its underground shaft furniture is the same except for the airlock not needed underground, the experimental facility allows comprehensive testing and verification of all components and systems, and this at full scale, so that processes can be performed under realistic conditions, and yielding information on operating faults and data for the simulation runs. (orig./HP)