The 12th International Conference on Environmental ... - Events

Session 28 Abstracts
EPA proposed amendments to its standards in August 2005, and provided 90 days for public comment. <strong>The</strong> Agency held meetings
and hearings in Nevada and Washington, D.C. during the comment period. <strong>The</strong> final standards were issued in October 2008,
along with a separate document containing responses to all public comments.
This paper will describe and discuss the amendments to EPAs standards, including the compliance period, the individual-protection
standard, the statistical method to measure compliance, the method by which doses are calculated, and specifications regarding
features, events, and processes.
5) EXPERIENCE WITH TECHNICAL ADVISORY GROUPS IN THE
JAPANESE HLW DISPOSAL PROGRAMME - 16290
Hiroyuki Tsuchi, Kazumi Kitayama, Akira Deguchi, Yoshiaki Takahashi,
Nuclear Waste Management Organization of Japan (Japan); Toshiaki Ohe, Tokai University (Japan):
Charles McCombie, Arius Association (Switzerland); Ian McKinley, McKinley Consulting (Switzerland)
<strong>The</strong> Japanese HLW implementing organisation, NUMO, was established 10 years ago and, over this period, has been very successful
in developing a high international profile and a reputation for innovative approaches to solving technical issues. To some
extent this reflected the solid basis of technical expertise that had already been built up over the previous 20 years, but the need for
innovation also resulted from the special boundary conditions required by the decision to adopt a volunteering approach to repository
siting. It was recognised that a call for volunteers had to be supported by solid documentation of the site selection approach
particularly the exclusion criteria which are very important in a seismically active country like Japan. Additionally, NUMO as an
organisation had to be recognised as technically credible, particularly with regard to tailoring the design of disposal facilities and
the associated safety case to the specific conditions found in volunteer sites. To facilitate achieving both these ambitious goals,
NUMO set up both domestic and international technical advisory committees that drew together the experience needed.
Although there was some overlap, the domestic advisory committee (DTAC) with its sub-committees was mainly charged with
developing a technical consensus on the supporting science and technology associated with site selection and characterisation,
repository design and long-term safety assessment. As such, the total number of members was large and they were drawn predominantly
from academia, professional societies and R&D organisations. <strong>The</strong> international committee (ITAC) focused more on putting
Japanese work into a wider context and on drawing on experience both positive and negative - from national programmes that
had advanced further. Hence ITAC members were originally selected on an ad personam basis because they had comprehensive
knowledge of national waste management programmes. Although it was not the original primary focus, the involvement of ITAC
members with NUMO grew with time so that most also actively participated in particular NUMO projects.
6) CURRENT STATUS OF PHASE II INVESTIGATION, MIZUNAMI
UNDERGROUND RESEARCH LABORATORY (MIU) PROJECT - 16262
Tadahiko Tsuruta, Masahiro Uchida, Katsuhiro Hama, Hiroya Matsui, Shinji Takeuchi, Kenji Amano, Ryuji Takeuchi,
Hiromitsu Saegusa, Toshiyuki Matsuoka, and Takashi Mizuno, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (Japan)
<strong>The</strong> Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) Project, a comprehensive research project investigating the deep
underground environmental in crystalline rock, is being conducted by Japan Atomic Energy Agency at Mizunami City, Central
Japan. <strong>The</strong> MIU Project is being carried out in three overlapping phases: Surface-based Investigation (Phase I), Construction (Phase
II), and Operation (Phase III), with a total duration of 20 years. <strong>The</strong> overall project goals of the MIU Project from Phase I through
to Phase III are: 1) to establish techniques for investigation, analysis and assessment of the deep geological environment, and 2) to
develop a range of engineering for deep underground application. Phase I was completed in March 2004, and Phase II investigations
associated with the construction of the underground facilities are currently underway.
Phase II investigation goals are to evaluate geological, hydrogeological, hydrogechemical and rock mechanical models developed
in Phase I and to assess changes in the deep geological environment caused by the construction of underground facilities. Geological
mapping, borehole investigations for geological, hydrogelogical, hydrogeochemical and rock mechanical studies are being
carried out in shafts and research galleries in order to evaluate the models. Long-term monitoring of changes in groundwater chemistry
and pressure associated with the construction of the underground facilities continue in and around the MIU site, using existing
borehole and monitoring systems.
This report summarizes the current status of MIU Project on results of the Phase II investigations to date.
7) APPROACHES FOR MODELLING TRANSIENT UNSATURATED-SATURATED
GROUNDWATER FLOW DURING AND AFTER CONSTRUCTION - 16242
Matt White, Galson Sciences Limited (UK); Jordi Guimera,AMPHOS XXI Consulting S.L (Spain);
Hiroshi Kosaka, Takuya Ohyama, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (Japan);
Peter Robinson,Quintessa Limited (UK) Hiromitsu Saegusa, Japan Atomic Energy Agency (Japan)
Construction of underground research laboratories and geological disposal facilities has a significant transient impact on
groundwater flow, leading to a drawdown in the water table and groundwater pressures, and groundwater inflow into shafts, access
ways and tunnels accompanied by desaturation of the surrounding rock. Modelling the impact of underground facilities on groundwater
flow is important throughout the construction and operation of the facilities, e.g. estimating grouting and water treatment
facility requirements during construction, and estimating the rate of resaturation of the engineered barrier system and the establishment
of steady-state groundwater flow after backfilling and closure.
Estimating the impact of these effects requires modeling of transient groundwater flow under unsaturated conditions at large
scales, and over long timescales. This is a significant challenge for groundwater flow modelling, in particular because of the nonlinearity
in groundwater flow equations, which can have a marked effect on suitable timesteps for transient calculations. In addition,
numerical grids need to be developed at appropriate scales for capturing the transition between saturated and unsaturated
regions of the sub-surface, and to represent the features of complex hydrogeological structures such as heterogeneous fractured
rock.
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