Euradwaste '08 - EU Bookshop - Europa

Achievements of the ESDRED project in Buffer Construction Technology
Chris De Bock 1 , Jean-Michel Bosgiraud 2 , Hanspeter Weber 3 , Tilmann Rothfuchs 4 , Jan Verstricht 5 ,
Brendan Breen 6 , Mark Johnson 6
Summary
1 ONDRAF-NIRAS, Belgium
2 ANDRA, France
3 NAGRA, Switzerland
4 GRS, Germany
5 EURIDICE, Belgium
6 NDA, United Kingdom
ESDRED is a technological integrated European project within the context of the 6th Framework
Program of EURATOM. It is the aim of this 5-year project (2004 to 2008) to demonstrate
the technical feasibility, at an industrial scale, of a number of specific technologies related
to the construction, operation and closure of a deep geological repository for storage of
spent fuel and long-lived radioactive waste. The project is divided into a number of modules,
of which Module 1 is principally dedicated to the construction and/or emplacement, in a horizontal
configuration, of the buffer around a disposed high-level waste package. In addition,
Module 1 aims to test the performance of seals (saturation rate and gas permeability) and certain
seal installation aspects, and to advance the state-of-the-art of the application of nonintrusive
monitoring techniques in geological repositories. The partner organisations working
within Module 1 are: ONDRAF/NIRAS (Belgium), ANDRA (France), NAGRA (Switzerland),
GRS (Germany), EURIDICE (Belgium) and the NDA (United Kingdom).
1. Introduction
R&D projects before ESDRED Module 1 had already studied several bentonite materials and their
conditioning to investigate their application as key materials in buffers, backfill or seals in geological
repositories (e.g. RESEAL in Mol, or BOS in Grimsel). Most of these projects had been performed
on a small or intermediate scale, and only a few addressed the emplacement techniques related
to these components. The demonstration testing at full scale that had been performed was basically
limited to the vertical disposal configuration (e.g. work by SKB related to the KBS-3V design).
From these projects, it was becoming clear that the horizontal configuration would pose specific
challenges that had never been sufficiently addressed, whereas the horizontal configuration
was getting increased consideration in the disposal concepts (reference or alternative) of a number
of EU countries. Module 1 was therefore in the first place set up to advance the state-of-the-art of
the technology related to the construction of the buffer or the backfill around a horizontally disposed
high-level waste package.
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