Buffer installation device arrives at Olkiluoto testing station
Posiva’s project to start the final disposal of spent nuclear fuel is one step closer to its goal again. The buffer installation device, which is one of the components in Posiva’s underground production equipment, has arrived to the Olkiluoto testing station from Pori.
The buffer installation device unwrapped from the package.
In the Olkiluoto testing hall, the device will be put to real work for the first time as it is used to install bentonite buffers in a 8.5 metres deep final disposal hole with such high precision that the cannister with a 1050 millimeter diameter will fit inside the buffers. It will come down to a few millimeters – literally.
The deposition hole will accommodate 28 layers of bentonite buffer blocks with only plus/minus five millimetres of wiggle room in the hole, says System Owner Eero Väisänen from Posiva.
The installation device arrived in Olkiluoto on Thursday, 21 August, and has already been moved to its place in the testing hall. On Friday, 29 August, the installation device will be joined by another component of the same system, when the transfer device which carries the bentonite blocks on an AGV platform to the installation device also travels to Olkiluoto from Pori. The transport container for the blocks is already in Olkiluoto.
The buffer installation tests will commence on Monday, 1 September. The canister Transfer and Installation Vehicle is expected to arrive to Olkiluoto in about one month. The installation tests of the final disposal canister in the hole lined with the bentonite blocks can then start in the Olkiluoto testing hall.
Once these tests have been concluded, the Trial Run of Final Disposal covering the whole final disposal facility can proceed to the underground tests in authentic conditions. Although still without any actual fuel in the final disposal test canisters to be used.
Text: Pasi Tuohimaa, photos: Raila Viitala