What happens if an aircraft crashes into the repository?
When planning the deep geological repository, we have to take all conceivable incidents or accidents into account – including an aircraft crash. Underground, the waste is ideally protected against aircraft crashes. But what about the waste that has just been delivered to the repository and is awaiting emplacement?
Earthquakes, flooding or war: the deep geological repository must remain safe in all conceivable scenarios, including the impact of an aircraft crash into the plant.
At a depth of 900 metres, the radioactive waste is ideally protected against an aircraft crash. But what about the surface facility? Radioactive waste will be delivered to it for around 25 years and transported from there down to the deep geological repository.
Around 90 per cent of the waste consists of low- or intermediate-level waste, while the remaining 10 percent is high-level waste. All radioactive waste is solid material that is neither flammable, water-soluble, nor explosive.
Highly robust disposal canisters
High-level waste is packaged in a disposal canister. Until it has been emplaced in the deep geological repository, an additional transport cask will enclose the disposal canister and the radioactive waste packaged inside it. This transport cask protects the disposal canister. It is highly robust, waterproof and fire-resistant. Transport casks have already been subjected to rigorous testing and have demonstrated that they remain tight even after being exposed to a 30-minute fire at 1,000 degrees Celsius, a fall from a height of 10 metres or a collision when travelling at a speed of 130 kilometres per hour.
This packaging can also withstand the massive impact of an aircraft crash and protects both during delivery to the surface facility and transport to the repository. The transport cask is only removed in the deep geological repository at a depth of almost 900 metres. The waste is ultimately emplaced in the disposal canister.
Protecting buildings
Before the waste reaches the deep geological repository, it is repackaged: from the temporary storage casks to the final disposal canisters. Repackaging will take place in the encapsulation plant for spent fuel assemblies, which is planned at the site of the interim storage facility in Würenlingen. This building must be designed to withstand aircraft crashes.
Existing nuclear facilities have already been designed and constructed to be aircraft crash-proof. This is the case, for example, with the “hot cell” that is already in operation at the interim storage facility in Würenlingen. Its purpose is the reloading of high-level spent fuel assemblies. The “hot cell” is made of solid reinforced concrete. An aircraft could crash into the thick walls without causing them to collapse.
Repository will remain safe
Waste emplaced underground is optimally protected in the event of an aircraft crash. The robust transport cask protects the waste at the surface. The encapsulation plant is a massive building that will also protect the waste. For these reasons, the safety of a deep geological repository will remain ensured even in the event of an aircraft crash.
Would you like more details?
Further information on the impact of an aircraft crash can be found in NAB 14-51:
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