Development of a mechanical alcove excavator for the Yucca Mountain Exploratory Study Facility

Conference · Sat Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1994

OSTI ID:60800

Roennkvist, E; Ozdemir, L ^[1]; Friant, J E ^[2]

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1. Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
2. Excavation Engineering Associates, Inc., Seattle, WA (United States)

A 25 ft (7.6 m) diameter tunnel, bored nearly 26,000 ft (8 km) long, is planned as the initial opening into a rather thick strata of welded tuff rock, known as Topopah Springs (TSw2). The near term purpose of the tunnel is to examine the geology to determine if the selected formation is suitable to be used as a nuclear waste repository. In addition to the tunnel, some 30 to 40 alcoves are envisioned along the tunnel which will serve as rooms in and from which the various scientists can conduct their analytical experiments. In addition, a series of rooms and hallways are planned in an area set aside as {open_quotes}the main test facility{close_quotes}. The overall site is known as The Exploratory Studies Facilities (ESF). The mission of this study program was to determine if a mechanical means of constructing the alcoves, rooms and hallways was feasible. Of particular interest were the alcoves which exit directly off of the main tunnel. The work for this study included determining a somewhat standard size for the initial alcove, determining whether existing equipment and/or technology was available, and determining if such equipment could be transported and launched from the main tunnel with minimum to no interruption to the main TBM operation. The study determined that no off the shelf equipment was both capable of effectively cutting welded tuff, and sufficiently mobile to meet the minimum interruption requirements. The study did determine that suitable technology was available, and that a special purpose machine was feasible. This paper describes the trade off studies conducted on various excavation methods, the system selected for conceptual design and the potential performance of a mobile alcove excavator.

• Research Organization: American Society of Civil Engineers, New York, NY (United States); American Nuclear Society, La Grange Park, IL (United States)
• OSTI ID: 60800
• Report Number(s): CONF-940553--Vol.2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

05 NUCLEAR FUELS
42 ENGINEERING
DESIGN
EARTHMOVING EQUIPMENT
EXCAVATION
FEASIBILITY STUDIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES
YUCCA MOUNTAIN
Yucca Mountain Project