The Belgian Demonstration Programme for the Disposal of High-Level and Long-Lived Radioactive Waste
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The Belgian Demonstration Programme for the Disposal of High-Level and Long-Lived Radioactive Waste Bernier Frédéric1, Demarche Marc1 and Bel Johan2 1 ESV EURIDICE GIE – European Underground Research Infrastructure for Disposal of Nuclear Waste in Clay Environment, Boeretang 200, BE-2400 Mol 2 NIRAS/ONDRAF – Belgian agency for radioactive waste and enriched fissile materials, Avenue des arts, 14, BE-210 Bruxelles
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. This programme is part of the Belgian Research and Development programme managed by ONDRAF/NIRAS. The research infrastructure includes the Underground Research Facilities HADES (URF HADES) in the Boom Clay geological formation and surface facilities. 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).
INTRODUCTION The Boom Clay layer, a tertiary plastic clay, was chosen as a study case for the geological disposal of high-level and long-lived radioactive waste. In Belgium, the R&D programme on this topic was initiated at the Belgian nuclear research centre (SCK•CEN) in 1974. The URF HADES was constructed at a depth of 223m for R&D purposes. The first construction phase started in 1980 and since the URF HADES has been expanded several times. Figure 1 shows the construction history. The primary purpose is conducting various in-situ experiments to study the feasibility of HLW disposal in the Boom Clay layer. HADES is currently managed by the Economic Interest Grouping EURIDICE, a joint venture between SCK•CEN and NIRAS/ONDRAF. Since previous research yielded promising results, the R&D programme is more and more tending towards large scale and demonstration tests. The realisation of the demonstration programme “the PRACLAY project” is the main mission of EURIDICE. The PRACLAY project includes:
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The extension of URF HADES consisting in the construction of a second shaft, a connecting gallery and the ventilation building leading to the demonstration of the in
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