LUCOEX

Large Underground Concept Experiments

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'The European Council outlined in its decision 2006/976/EURATOM the following objective for the research area “management of radioactive waste”: “Through implementation-oriented RTD, the activities aim to establish a sound scientific and technical basis for demonstrating the technologies and safety of disposal of spent fuel and long-lived radioactive wastes in geological formations ...”

In the FP7 work programme 2010 (European Commission C(2009)5946 from 30 July 2009) it is stated that the expected impact of projects should be that they contribute “to the progress towards the implementing of geological disposal in line with the Vision Report and initial roadmaps of IGD-TP and the 2020 objectives of the SET-Plan, together with significant advances in the treatment and/or understanding of key remaining issues. In particular, this should lead to demonstrable improvements in robustness of associated performance and safety analyses, and ultimately to increased confidence in the safety case ...”

Waste implementers (WMOs) being deeply involved in experiments in underground laboratories (SKB, Andra, Nagra and Posiva) address these objectives by implementing a joint collaboration regarding large underground concept experiments “LUCOEX”, which meets the FP7 work programme theme of Fission-2010 1.1.1. The included experiments will provide a check on the suitability of the different emplacement concepts and a possibility to understand and compare important parameters for the implementation and the long-term safety of the concepts. Important experience is expected to be obtained regarding testing and improving of methods, equipment, technologies, processes or operability related to the construction, operation and closure of a repository system. The key technical areas to address will be gallery construction, manufacturing and emplacement of buffer around waste canisters, emplacement of waste packages, and backfilling and sealing of galleries.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Under the auspices of an EU-funded project, researchers are working on ways to dispose of nuclear waste underground and seal it off with specialised plugs. If the project succeeds, the first permanent geological repositories could be operating in Europe by 2025.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Nuclear power is set to contribute to the decarbonisation of the European energy system and achieve the ultimate goal of reducing dependency on fossil fuels. However, there are no permanent disposal sites for the hazardous radioactive waste.

The http://www.lucoex.eu/ (LUCOEX) (Large underground concept experiments) project developed four different repository concepts with the aim of developing solutions supporting repository construction in many of the different geological host rocks found within the EU.

Leading radioactive waste management organisations from Finland, France, Sweden and Switzerland came together to focus on how to dispose of waste under hard rock.

LUCOEX is demonstrating the technical feasibility for safe and reliable construction, component manufacturing, installation and sealing of the disposal galleries that will be used for the waste.

The proof-of-concept installations are almost finalised. In Sweden, researchers successfully developed a disposal drift, upgraded the installation machinery and manufactured all installation components using an artificial wetting process. In addition, they initiated a full-scale buffer swelling test to study how the bentonite buffer evolves within the disposal drift.

After having completed instrumentation and heater designs and performed compatibility tests, researchers in France installed the instrumentation on the casing and heaters. Another task will be to simulate the heat induced by exothermic waste packages, with a target of achieving 90 degrees Celsius at the rock-casing interface.

In Switzerland, researchers successfully created a 50-metre deposition tunnel. Furthermore, they performed significant work with regard to optimising the buffer material production and the manufacturing of the necessary machinery. The next step is to install three heaters in the tunnel, backfill it with bentonite clay and seal it with a number of concrete plugs.

Finally, researchers in Finland used advanced techniques to achieve the required precision when installing bentonite buffer blocks into the deposition hole. The canister installation vehicle is complete in addition to the first test sites above and underground.

LUCOEX has presented its work at several conferences and workshops.