The use of underground research facilities for the demonstration of safety of geological disposal - 15094

Conference · Wed Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2015

OSTI ID:22822657

Bruno, Gerard; Orrell, Andrew ^[1]

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1. International Atomic Energy Agency, P.O. Box 100, 1400 Vienna (Austria)

Many countries are progressing towards developing research programmes related to the development of geological disposal facilities and as part of these research programmes many countries have constructed or are planning to construct Underground Research Facilities (URFs). The development of the safety case for geological disposal facilities, which covers both the operational phase and the post-closure phase, is built on the acquisition and integration of all necessary data including data on the natural and engineered barriers, on the facility itself (design), on the operation of the disposal facility, and in the specific case of geological disposal facilities, the conditions at the depth of disposal relevant for both in-situ and waste emplacement states. Taking these conditions into account can make the demonstration of safety more complex and demanding than for near surface disposal facilities. Most if not all of the countries well advanced in the development of geological disposal facilities have also developed underground research facilities to support the decision processes within their disposal facility development programme. Underground Research Facilities play an essential role in the demonstration of safety of geological disposal facilities and a distinction has to be made between data acquired from surface based investigations and boreholes and those data and experiments carried out in-situ. The use of in-situ data contribute to build confidence in the demonstration of safety and contribute to public confidence and acceptance of geological disposal facilities. Further discussion will elaborate on whether to use the URF as part of a future disposal facility or not, with an emphasis on the transposition of data from the experimental site to the disposal site and how this is addressed and validated in the demonstration of safety. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
• OSTI ID: 22822657
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--19-WM-15094
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
BOREHOLES
DEPTH
DESIGN
GROUND DISPOSAL
PLANNING
POSITIONING
SAFETY
UNDERGROUND FACILITIES