The Belgian Demonstration Programme for the Disposal of High-Level and Long-Lived Radioactive Waste

Frédéric Bernier, Marc Demarche, Johan Bel, Wim Bastiaens

    Research outputpeer-review

    Abstract

    The EIG EURIDICE is responsible for performing large-scale tests, technical demonstrations and experiments so as to assess the feasibility of a final disposal of vitrified radioactive waste in deep clay layers. The achievements of the demonstration programme are the demonstration of the construction of shafts and galleries at industrial scale, the characterisation of the hydro-mechanical response of the host rock, and the "OPHELIE mock-up" a large scale hydration test under thermal load of pre-fabricated bentonite blocks. The future works will consist mainly in the realisation of the “PRACLAY experiments” including a large scale heater test. The large scale heater test has to demonstrate that Boom Clay is suitable, in terms of performance of the disposal system, to undergo the thermal load induced by the vitrified waste. The combined effect of the excavation and the thermal load will be investigated. A long term (more than 10 years) large scale heater test would be representative of the most penalizing conditions that could be encountered in the real disposal. The results of this test will constitute an important input for the Safety and Feasibility Cases 1 (SFC-1, 2013) and 2 (SFC-2, 2020).
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationSymposium Proceedings. Scientific Basis for Nuclear Waste Management XXIX
    Place of PublicationWarrendale, United States
    Pages103-110
    StatePublished - Jun 2006
    EventMRS05 - SCK•CEN, Gent
    Duration: 12 Sep 200516 Sep 2005

    Conference

    ConferenceMRS05
    Country/TerritoryBelgium
    CityGent
    Period2005-09-122005-09-16

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