Requirements for methods and the scope of above ground and underground investigations of a site intended as repository, including an international comparison - 3605R02555
urn:nbn:de:0221-2009042391
BfS-RESFOR-15/09
Summary
The German federal agency for radiation protection (Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz - BfS) commissioned Golder Associates GmbH to carry out research project 3605R02555 on “requirements for methods and the scope of above ground and underground investigations of a site intended as repository, including an international comparison”. The work was carried out in four stages in cooperation with Geophysik und Geotechnik Leipzig GmbH (GGL) and Institut für Gebirgsmechanik GmbH (IfG):
Research on international investigation methods and their objective
Description and evaluation of international investigation programmes
Derivation of investigation measures for Germany
Comparison of international investigation requirements with experiences in Germany
AkEnd [AKEND (2002)] recommended a procedure for a step-by-step selection of sites for a repository for radioactive wastes in formations with favourable or promising geological conditions. In the fourth and fifth steps of this selection procedure it is intended to test the suitability of a site as a repository for radioactive wastes by above ground and then by underground investigations. In Germany the investigation methods that are used and their scope have to be consistent with the current state of the art of science and technology. The aim of the research project was to compile information on an international basis on geoscientific methods for the investigation of a site for a repository for radioactive waste, the scope of such investigations and also on the possibly still necessary development of methods. From the international experience were derived the investigations which would have to be used in the fourth and fifth steps of the selection process for a repository for radioactive waste in Germany. In Germany, the following geological formations have to be considered for repositories for radioactive wastes: evaporite, clay/claystone, crystalline rock and other rock below clays. A comparison was made for the investigated German sites Morsleben, Gorleben (evaporite - diapirs) and Konrad (other rock below clays) which contrasted the investigation methods derived from international experience for equivalent formations with the experience in Germany.
