BGE TEC Borehole Disposal
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Technical Report Deep Borehole Disposal Concept Authors: Tilman Fischer Hans-Joachim Engelhardt Toivo Wanne Germany, September, 2020 AINS - Civil Engineering Tel. +358 207 911 888 VAT-number FI01135548 AINS - Civil Engineering Tel. +358 207 911 888 VAT-number FI01135548 0 Project name: Technical Assistance “National Facility” Report title: Deep Borehole Disposal Concept Version: 1.0 Date: 30 September 2020 Additional information: Author Approved by Accepted by Tilman Fischer, BGE-TEC Antti Ikonen, Håvard Kristiansen, Joachim Engelhardt, BGE-TEC AINS NND Toivo Wanne, BGE-TEC Date date date 30.9.2020 6.10.2020 Reviewed by Reviewed by Reviewed by Antti Ikonen, AINS Date date date 6.10.2020 AINS - Civil Engineering Tel. +358 207 911 888 VAT-number FI01135548 1 ABSTRACT Norway’s inventory of high-level radioactive waste originates from the research reactors in Halden and Kjeller, taken out of operation. NND is developing a comprehensive strategy for management of radioactive waste. For high-level waste this includes two options: Deep Geological Repository, OR Deep Borehole Repository. This report explored the deep borehole repository concept for Norway. The borehole disposal concept consists of drilling a borehole to a depth of several kilometres, emplacing waste containers containing spent nuclear fuel or high-level waste in the lower part of the borehole and then sealing the upper part of the borehole. The report provides basic information about deep borehole disposal. The main part of this is a literature study to summarize the information available. In combination with some information about the radioactive waste in Norway (inventory of the existing waste), some parts of the concept have been adapted to the Norwegian project. For the disposal operation and mainly the borehole construction a simple feasibility analysis has been carried out. This is mainly focused on the borehole diameter and depth, since these have been constituted to be the main challenges and limiting factors of the project. At the end some recommendations for further studies are provided. These can set the basis for a more detailed concept, either for Norway, but also for other countries. Several decisions are required during the development of a borehole disposal concept. Since most variables are related and dependent on each other, at some point decisions or assumptions need to be made in order to develop a concept. Some central decision points are the container design, which then strongly affects the borehole design. The borehole design on the other hand influences the container design as well. This is one of the mutual dependencies during the concept development of deep borehole disposal. In addition, the geology affects the borehole and container design significantly. There are three major aspects which influence all the other aspects discussed throughout this report: Borehole design, Container design, and Geology. While the borehole and container design are variables and can be changed and adapted relatively easily, the geology is set. This factor can only be influenced by the selection of the location. A potential design layout of the borehole is show on left. The borehole is adapted to the geological circumstances in Norway. The borehole diameter and the depths of the different parts of the borehole are not set yet. 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................. 3 1.1 Background ................................................................................................ 3 1.2 Borehole disposal concept .......................................................................... 3 1.3 Borehole concept for Norway ...................................................................... 4 1.4 Scope of work and structure of the report ................................................... 5 2 GEOLOGY OF NORWAY .................................................................................... 7 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 7 2.2 Main geological areas ................................................................................. 7 2.2.1 Oslo rift zone ................................................................................... 8 2.2.2 Scandinavian Caledonides .............................................................. 8 2.3 Stress state, temperature and salinity ....................................................... 12 2.4 Specifics in siting of borehole disposal facility ........................................... 15 2.5 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 16 3 WASTE PACKAGES ......................................................................................... 17 3.1 IAEA Guidelines ....................................................................................... 19 3.2 Waste package materials.......................................................................... 20 3.3 Possible Waste Containers for borehole disposal ..................................... 21 3.4 Number of canisters required for Norway .................................................. 28 3.5 Summary .................................................................................................. 28 4 CONSTRUCTION .............................................................................................. 30 4.1 Disposal facility layout .............................................................................. 30 4.1.1 Security zone ................................................................................ 31 4.1.2 Open spaces ................................................................................. 31 4.1.3 Areas of passenger and vehicle traffic ........................................... 32 4.1.4 Buildings ....................................................................................... 32 4.1.5 Criteria for the arrangement of the buildings .................................. 33 4.2 Implementation and construction .............................................................. 35 4.2.1 General drilling process ................................................................. 35 4.2.2 Borehole design and construction ................................................. 37 4.2.3 Drilling Rigs ................................................................................... 45 4.2.4 Drilling Site Layout ........................................................................ 52 4.2.5 Borehole Casing Design ................................................................ 55 4.2.6 Casing Cementation ...................................................................... 69 4.2.7 Feasibility of the borehole construction.......................................... 73 4.2.8 Borehole dimension ....................................................................... 73 4.2.9 Investigation of rock quality ........................................................... 74 4.2.10 Handling of the casing ................................................................... 76 4.2.11 Borehole logging ........................................................................... 77 4.2.12 Waste emplacement techniques .................................................... 77 4.2.13 Sealing and Plugging .................................................................... 86 4.2.14 Foreign Materials remaining in the Facility .................................... 99 4.2.15 Safety classification ..................................................................... 101 4.2.16 Fire safety ................................................................................... 101 4.2.17 Demonstrations of borehole disposal operation ........................... 102 2 4.2.18 Facility construction in phases ..................................................... 102 4.3 Alternative borehole design concepts ..................................................... 102 4.4 Adaptation for different waste volumes ................................................... 105 5 OPERATION ................................................................................................... 106 5.1 Operational duration of borehole disposal facility .................................... 106 5.1.1 Pre-operational period ................................................................. 106 5.1.2 Operational period ....................................................................... 111 5.1.3 Post-operational or post-closure period ....................................... 114 5.2 Accidents and incidents .......................................................................... 114 5.3 Controlled and uncontrolled areas .......................................................... 116 5.4 Safeguards ............................................................................................. 117 5.5 Monitoring ............................................................................................... 118 6 CLOSURE ....................................................................................................... 121 6.1 Dismantling work .................................................................................... 121 6.2 Closure ................................................................................................... 121 6.3 Institutional Control Period ...................................................................... 122 7 DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS