Design and development of large-scale in-situ PRACLAY heater test and horizontal high-level radioactive waste disposal gallery seal test in Belgian HADES

Li, X.L.; Bastiaens, Wim; Marcke, Philippe Van; Verstricht, Jan; Chen, G.J.; Weetjens, Eef; Sillen, X.

doi:10.3724/sp.j.1235.2010.00103

Cited by 33 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Demonstration experiments are supposed to represent, test and optimize actual potential disposal systems and repository components. Among the more advanced demonstrators, the PRACLAY demonstrator at the HADES laboratory prefigures the Belgian concept (Li et al 2010). In Sweden, the Prototype Repository project (Johannesson et al 2007) is a life-size test of the KBS-3 concept.…”

Section: Present and Future Benefits From Underground Rock Laboratoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It took a month to excavate the 45 m of gallery with a nominal progress rate about 2 m/ day. The support was designed to ensure that the gallery was stable under mechanical and thermal load (Li et al 2010). The design allows two types of loading: geotechnical loading by pressure from the ground on the lining and thermal loading induced by the heater test.…”

Section: Thermal Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Three decades of underground research laboratories: what have we learned?

Delay¹,

Bossart²,

et al. 2014

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This paper describes how four scientific and safety relevant issues have been addressed in special-purpose research laboratories focusing on the geological disposal of high level and longlived radioactive waste. These are: (a) the effects of heat on the engineered barriers and the geological environment; (b) the geochemical characterization of pore-water in argillaceous rocks; (c) the diffusion and retention of radionuclides; and (d) the full-size sealing of a waste emplacement. They are illustrated by experiments conducted in five underground research laboratories (URLs), three of which are in clay formations (Mol in Belgium, Centre de Meuse-Haute-Marne in France, and Mont Terri Rock Laboratory in Switzerland) and two in granite (Aspö Hard Rock Laboratory in Sweden and Grimsel Test Site in Switzerland).This paper highlights how the various types of experiments are related and how their results have been applied to foster progress. The most complex experiments have revealed artefacts and technical or methodological difficulties associated with interactions among multiple phenomena, the occurrence or intensity of which cannot be analysed by simple models. In turn, these difficulties have prompted experiments targeted at elementary phenomena, thereby encouraging the development of new investigation protocols and monitoring tools.More than 30 years of investigations in special-purpose URLs show the benefits of in-situ experimental programmes in the context of radioactive waste management. The laboratories have opened up avenues for research and advanced knowledge and technology. Thanks to a large component of international cooperation, they have made it possible to mobilize the financial and human resources required for this type of research. They have, above all, shared thoughts and promoted interdisciplinary studies around the same subject. They make common strategies possible at international level.In the context of radioactive waste disposal, a URL is a facility in which experiments are conducted so as to establish and to be able to demonstrate the feasibility of constructing and operating a radioactive waste disposal facility within a geological formation (NEA 2001a, b). Twenty-six URLs were set up in 10 countries between 1965 and 2006. They are located in a range of geological formations: argillaceous sedimentary rocks, magmatic rocks, evaporites and volcanic tuff. Some laboratories have been installed in existing facilities; others have been purpose built.Experiments in URLs meet two sets of needs: (a) characterization, that is, acquiring knowledge of the geological, hydro-geological, geochemical, structural and mechanical properties of the host rock and of its response to perturbations; and (b) construction and operation, that is, developing equipment to acquire know-how about the construction of all the components of a disposal facility up to

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Section: Present and Future Benefits From Underground Rock Laboratoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Thermal Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three decades of underground research laboratories: what have we learned?

Delay¹,

Bossart²,

et al. 2014

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“…The large‐scale PRACLAY heating test is carried out in the HADES URL in Mol, Belgium, with the purpose to simulate the thermal impact generated by heat‐emitting high‐level waste on Boom Clay at a repository‐representative configuration . The PRACLAY heating test is hosted around the PRACLAY gallery, which was excavated in the Boom Formation at 223‐m depth.…”

Section: A Prediction For Praclay Heating Test and Verification Of Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The PRACLAY gallery is a horizontal drift with a length of about 45 m and an internal and external diameters of 1.9 and 2.5 m, respectively (Figure ). Because of the restrictions of an in situ test compared with the real repository, the PRACLAY heating test intends to reach the most critical thermal load in terms of maximum temperature as well as temperature gradient within a period of time . Therefore, the gallery was backfilled with high‐permeability sand and is required to be fully saturated before heating.…”

Section: A Prediction For Praclay Heating Test and Verification Of Thmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The currently running PRACLAY heating test in the HADES URL is carried out in repository‐representative configuration to directly gather knowledge of the THM response of the Boom Clay to complex loadings characteristic of the real repository, so as to establish a sound scientific and technical basis for demonstrating the feasibility and safety of geological disposal . Numerical analyses are essential in the whole process of PRACLAY heating test, from test design, construction, predictions, risk analysis to data interpretations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A solution around a backfilled cavity in a low‐permeability poroelastic medium with application in in situ heating tests

Chen

Weetjens

2016

Num Anal Meth Geomechanics

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Thermo-hydro-mechanical responses around a cylindrical cavity drilled or excavated in a low-permeability formation are studied when the cavity is subjected to a time-dependent thermal loading. The cavity is considered backfilled after it is supported by casing or lining. Solutions of temperature, pore water pressure, stress, and displacement responses are analytically formulated based on Biot's consolidation theory with the assumption that the backfilling material, supporting material, and surrounding low-permeability formation are poroelastic media. The solution is expressed in Laplace space, and numerical inversion techniques are used to find field variables in the real-time domain. After the solution is verified with the numerical results, it is applied in a large-scale in situ heating test -PRACLAY heating testfor a predictive reference calculation and an extensive parametric study. Another medium-scale in situ heating test -ATLAS III heating testis also analyzed using the solution, which provides reasonable agreement with measurements. The new analytical solution proves to be a convenient tool for a good understanding of the resulting coupled thermo-hydro-mechanical behavior and is therefore valuable for the interpretation of measured data in engineering practices and for a rational design of potential radioactive waste repositories.

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Hydrologic issues associated with nuclear waste repositories

2015

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Significant progress in hydrology, especially in subsurface flow and solute transport, has been made over the last 35 years because of sustained interest in underground nuclear waste repositories. The present paper provides an overview of the key hydrologic issues involved, and to highlight advances in their understanding and treatment because of these efforts. The focus is not on the development of radioactive waste repositories and their safety assessment, but instead on the advances in hydrologic science that have emerged from such studies. Work and results associated with three rock types, which are being considered to host the repositories, are reviewed, with a different emphasis for each rock type. The first rock type is fractured crystalline rock, for which the discussion will be mainly on flow and transport in saturated fractured rock. The second rock type is unsaturated tuff, for which the emphasis will be on flow from the shallow subsurface through the unsaturated zone to the repository. The third rock type is clay-rich formations, whose permeability is very low in an undisturbed state. In this case, the emphasis will be on hydrologic issues that arise from mechanical and thermal disturbances; i.e., on the relevant coupled thermo-hydromechanical processes. The extensive research results, especially those from multiyear large-scale underground research laboratory investigations, represent a rich body of information and data that can form the basis for further development in the related areas of hydrologic research. General IntroductionSignificant progress in hydrology, especially in subsurface flow and solute transport, has been made over the last 35 years because of sustained interest in the performance assessment of proposed underground nuclear waste repositories. The present paper attempts to provide an overview of the key hydrologic issues involved and to highlight the advances in their understanding and treatment because of these efforts. This paper is not focused on the development of high-level nuclear waste repositories and their safety assessment; it focuses instead on the advances in hydrologic science which have emerged from such studies. These advances may find applications in other hydrology-related problems of current importance at the national and international levels, such as environmental contamination remediation, carbon dioxide geosequestration, and natural gas production through fracking.In the next section, we present, in a general way, the context for the hydrologic framework related to performance and safety assessment of underground nuclear waste repositories that are proposed to be constructed in three particular rock formations-crystalline rock, unsaturated tuffs, and clays. Then, we discuss some particularly challenging factors concerning the research common to these three formations. This discussion will be followed by three sections devoted to each of these three rock types, respectively, to present a review of hydrologic research in these areas.

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Design and development of large-scale in-situ PRACLAY heater test and horizontal high-level radioactive waste disposal gallery seal test in Belgian HADES

Cited by 33 publications

References 3 publications

Three decades of underground research laboratories: what have we learned?

Three decades of underground research laboratories: what have we learned?

A solution around a backfilled cavity in a low‐permeability poroelastic medium with application in in situ heating tests

Hydrologic issues associated with nuclear waste repositories

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