Architecture and management of a geological repository - Andra

9 – Nuclear operating resources in the repositoryFigure 9.1.8Lid welding station for a spent fuel packageThe container starts rotating driven by a mechanism underneath the welding cell. A specific rotatingjoint ensures leaktightness between the rotating container and the welding chamber.The welding gun, with an estimated power of 50 kW and a travel speed of 10 to 20 centimetres perminute, carries out the welding operation in a single pass and in less than one hour.It takes ten hours on average to manufacture a spent fuel package. On this basis, two conditioninglines operating continuously will be necessary to produce an average two disposal packages per day,with a maximum of three packages.9.2 Process for transferring the disposal packages from the surface to thedisposal cellsThe present section describes the equipment and the processes used for transferring the disposalpackages from the surface installations to the disposal cells [81]. All the operations described can bereversed, in order to bring back to surface packages retrieved from the repository, if necessary.9.2.1 General principles for transferring the disposal packagesThe principle for transferring the disposal packages between the surface installations and the disposalcells depends mainly on radiological protection considerations. The residual rate of equivalent dosearound the disposal packages (all categories combined: B, C, and CU) makes it impossible to handlethem without radiological protection for the personnel. The principle adopted therefore consists ofputting the packages into a shielded so-called "radiological protection" transfer cask within the surfaceinstallations. This transfer cask is then transferred to the entrance of the disposal cells where thedisposal packages are extracted and are placed in their final position in the cell.DOSSIER 2005 ARGILE -ARCHITECTURE AND MANAGEMENT OF A GEOLOGICAL DISPOSAL SYSTEM336/495