When the highest safety requirements call for new vehicle concepts
Five newly developed HUBTEX vehicle types for the safe storage process of radioactive waste are entering the next project phase.
For the German Konrad repository, HUBTEX has developed a coordinated fleet of five special-purpose vehicle types. Several of the large vehicles will now be dismantled into individual components brought into the underground facility and reassembled there. During this process the existing inspection and documentation chain must also be continued seamlessly.
The vehicles are part of the future storage process of the Federal Company for Radioactive Waste Disposal (BGE). They perform coordinated tasks ranging from above-ground handling and onward transport to the precise positioning of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste at a depth of around 850 meters. In addition, they will transport fresh concrete and thick material for the subsequent backfilling of the storage areas. The decisive factor is not an individual vehicle but the safe interaction of all vehicle types at defined transfer points.
From Process to Vehicle Architecture
No suitable standard solution was available for this application. Narrow travel routes, inclines and declines, high vehicle weights, as well as clearly defined driving, braking, and transfer processes determine the design. In addition, there are strict requirements regarding radiation protection, decontamination, fire load, collision avoidance, potential fall heights, and operator protection. Every transport operation must remain controllable, reliable and traceable.
HUBTEX therefore first analyzed travel routes, interfaces, load transfers, environmental conditions, and potential hazards. This resulted in new, coordinated chassis, steering, lifting, and protection concepts. Depending on their task, the vehicles are equipped with, among other things, shielded, radiation-protected operator cabins featuring lead glass and solid steel walls, protected ventilation, fire monitoring, fire-extinguishing systems, and emergency steering systems. Position detection, optical track guidance, load-unit tracking, and communication systems support controlled integration into the overall process.
“The greatest challenge was not a single vehicle, but the interaction of all functions and interfaces. Mechanics, protection systems, transfers, and process monitoring had to be considered as an overall system from the outset. At the same time, every technical step must still be clearly traceable even many years later,” says Frank Knurr, Sales and Project Engineer for the BGE project at HUBTEX.
Safety Must Be Verifiable
The development work therefore encompasses far more than design. Drawings, calculations, and construction inspection plans specify how the vehicles are designed, manufactured, and inspected. Technical changes are evaluated, documented, and only implemented after approval. The final documentation includes not only the initially planned vehicle, but also the vehicle in its final state that was manufactured and inspected.
Quality assurance in production is also not a final inspection step. Materials, welded joints, assemblies, and installations are inspected during manufacturing in accordance with defined inspection plans. Depending on the inspection step, representatives of BGE and an independent expert are involved alongside HUBTEX Quality Assurance. Additional welding and procedure qualifications as well as non-destructive testing methods ensure the integrity of specialized materials, sheet thicknesses, and joining techniques.
This project demonstrates how HUBTEX translates exceptional material flow requirements into individually developed and fully documented special-purpose vehicle solutions. This expertise is relevant wherever heavy, sensitive, or hazardous loads need to be moved along limited travel routes, under special environmental conditions, and with high requirements for protection, process safety, and verification.
