Assessing the performances of engineered barrier systems and rock masses from large scale in situ tests at the Tournemire underground research laboratory
Résumé
The institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) develops a wide range of scientific research programmes related to deep geological disposal safety issues in order to support their technical assessment for the French Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN). The research programmes are organised along key safety questions, drawn from the regulatory review on the “feasibility of reversible geological disposal in clay”. They deal with various scientific disciplines such as geology, hydrogeology, geomechanics, geochemistry or physics and are implemented in national and international partnerships. In this framework and during the last decade, IRSN has carried out several large scale in situ experiments in its underground research laboratory (URL) located at Tournemire (South France), to develop and assess new repository monitoring technologies, to quantify the performance assessment of different engineered barrier systems as well as the confinement capabilities of sound and fractured shale host rocks. The experimental results gained from these tests have provided IRSN with valuable independent knowledge and scientific skills in order to assess whether the scientific results, gained by the waste management organisation and their integration for demonstrating the safety of the geological disposal, are acceptable with regard to the safety issues to be dealt within the Safety Case.