New BAM 200 ton drop test facility – construction and operation experiences

In 2004, BAM constructed a new drop test facility that allows drop testing of new generation, full scale spent fuel and HLW casks. Since these casks are designed to larger and larger dimensions to improve cost-benefit relations, and also to serve as dual purpose casks for transport and long term interim storage, the concerns about appropriate testing of those designs include the request for full scale drop testing. BAM concentrates its outdoor test facilities on a test centre in Horstwalde, 50 km south of Berlin. For that reason, a new drop test facility replacing the old one in Lehre (some 200 km east of Berlin) was also needed. Considering the potential need to test large full scale casks, construction was initiated to cover specimen masses up to 200 t. The main construction features of the new test facilities are: a 36 m high drop tower of steel pipe construction; a 200 t hoist on top of the drop tower, with a maximum hook height of 30 m; an unyielding target realised by reinforced concrete block with dimensions 14 m × 14 m × 5 m depth, with a mass of 2600 t, and with an impact pad made of anchored steels plates 10 m × 4·5 m × 0·22 m; a 24 m × 20 m closed test hall below the drop tower with movable roof and rolling gates; an 80 t overhead crane inside the test hall; and a special cask detaching device with a hydraulically operated mechanism that ruptures a steel bolt. The present study includes a description of the construction details and history as well as details from the inaugural drop tests with two large spent fuel casks on technical tour events during PATRAM 2004.