Feasibility Study on Transportation Techniques Employing Air-Bearing System for Pre-Assembled Waste Package at Drift Tunnel of HLW Repository

Full-scale tests were performed to evaluate the technical feasibility of a transport system with air-bearings at the underground HLW disposal tunnel for pre-assembled heavy disposal packages, which consist of a waste package and buffer material. Transport conditions in the disposal tunnel, such as roughness and unevenness of the curved surface, make it difficult to achieve smooth movement using the commercial airbearing transport system. In order to evaluate the applicability of the air-bearing transport system to such conditions, tests using a full-scale test device (modified package) and simulated tunnel surface were conducted. Based on the tests, the applicability of this transport system to a disposal tunnel was confirmed.