Progress with field investigations at Stripa

Technical Report · Fri Feb 01 00:00:00 EST 1980

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5325672· OSTI ID:5325672

Witherspoon, P A; Cook, N G.W.; Gale, J E

It is generally agreed that the most practicable method of isolating nuclear wastes from the biosphere is by deep burial in suitable geologic formations. Such burial achieves a high degree of physical isolation but raises questions concerning the rate at which some of these wastes may return to the biosphere through transport by groundwater. Any suitable repository site will be disturbed first by the excavation of the repository and second by the thermal pulse caused by the radioactive decay of the wastes. To assess the effectiveness of geologic isolation it is necessary to develop the capability of predicting the response of a rock mass to such a thermal pulse. Ultimately, this requires field measurements at depths below surface and in media representative of those likely to be encountered at an actual repository. Access to a granitic rock mass adjacent to a defunct iron ore mine at Stripa in Sweden at a depth of about 350 m below surface has provided a unique opportunity to conduct a comprehensive suite of hydrological and thermo-mechanical experiments under such conditions virtually without delay. The results of these field tests have shown the importance of geologic structure and the functional dependence of the thermo-mechanical properties on temperature in developing a valid predictive model. The results have also demonstrated the vital importance of being able to carry out large scale investigations in a field test facility.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 5325672
• Report Number(s): LBL-10559; SAC-27; TRN: 80-011199
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
58 GEOSCIENCES
GRANITES
ROCK MECHANICS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
RADIOACTIVE WASTE DISPOSAL
FIELD TESTS
BOREHOLES
DIAGRAMS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FRACTURES
HEAT TREATMENTS
HYDROLOGY
MINES
SWEDEN
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
UNDERGROUND DISPOSAL
CAVITIES
DATA
EUROPE
FAILURES
IGNEOUS ROCKS
INFORMATION
MANAGEMENT
NUMERICAL DATA
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PLUTONIC ROCKS
ROCKS
SCANDINAVIA
TESTING
WASTE DISPOSAL
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WESTERN EUROPE
052002* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Disposal & Storage
580300 - Mineralogy
Petrology
& Rock Mechanics- (-1989)