Analysis of the excavation deviations impact on geological radioactive waste repository performance

Alain Genty (1, 2) , Christophe Le Potier (1, 2) , Stéphane Gounand (1, 2)

1 SFME - Service Fluide numériques, Modélisation et Etudes
2 DM2S - Département de Modélisation des Systèmes et Structures

Numerical simulations of the transport of radionuclide from high-level radioactive waste stored in geological repositories often do not take into account construction defects in the repository. The potential impact of drilling and excavation deviation from the engineer planned design is a priori considered negligible. We conducted computations on repository geometries that contain deviations from horizontal of a few degrees. The analysis of the results shows that the impact of deviation defects varies from 9 to 16%. A perfect control of the galleries and waste repository cell orientations is then of concern for radioactive waste repository construction, failing which numerical simulations must be conducted on the worst geometric configuration or margin errors added. On the other hand, if the orientation control is precise enough, a modification of the repository design including controlled deviations from the horizontal may be of interest.

Mots clés: Radioactive waste repository; Excavation deviation; Radionuclide transport calculation

Domaines: Mécanique des fluides [physics.class-ph]

Alain Genty, Christophe Le Potier, Stéphane Gounand. Analysis of the excavation deviations impact on geological radioactive waste repository performance. Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, 2011, 29 (4), pp.537-554. ⟨10.1007/s10706-011-9401-5⟩. ⟨hal-04102713⟩