Landfills and Deep Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste

Abstract

This course focuses on the integration of geo-scientific and technical knowledge for the assessment of long-term safety and engineering feasibility of shallow and deep repositories for hazardous and radioactive wastes and for the clean-up of contaminated sites.

Objective

The students learn about the requirements for safe storage/disposal of different types of waste. They learn that - according to the different chemical and physical properties - there are different requirements for the performance of the engineered and geological barriers. They learn about the criteria that are necessary in landfill planning, site evaluation and/or characterization projects or in the review of a proposed project. The students understand that waste disposal in landfills and in deep geological repositories are interdisciplinary projects. Such projects require a high degree of interdisciplinary communication between earth scientists (all sub-disciplines, e.g. mineralogy, sedimentology, rock mechanics, hydrogeology, geophysics, geochemistry), engineers and safety assessment modellers. The students understand that there may be interactions between the repository components (waste and engineered barriers) and the host rock, and, in the case of landfills, repositories act as chemical reactors influencing the technical and geosphere barriers. They are able to take this into account when designing experimental programs designated to understand these processes. Based on the experience from other courses (hydrogeology, basic principles of contaminant transport, underground excavations etc.) they are able to build up project-oriented geological models of shallow and deep disposal sites. Here they learn to take this into account when designing geological investigation and monitoring programs for the assessment of the performance and the long-term safety of a repository. The students are aware that long-term safety has an influence on repository design and construction. They realize that this has to be taken into account in engineering and are able to design appropriate investigation programs.

Content

This lecture course comprises a series of lectures with exercises and excursions. The course is subdivided in two parts: Part 1, Deep Geological Disposal of Radioactive Waste); Part 2, Landfills and contaminated sites. Topics addressed in the course are - Concepts and long-term safety in radioactive waste management - Clay rocks and fractured hard rocks as transport barriers for contaminants - Engineering geology in deep geological disposal - Investigation methods in deep boreholes (data acquisition for the assessment of long-term safety and data relevant for repository layout and construction) - principles of environmental protection in waste management and how this is applied in legislation. - role and character of heterogeneities of frequently used geological barriers - chemistry underlying the leaching of contaminants from the landfilled/contaminated material - Technical barrier design and function - Contaminated site remediation: Site evaluation, concepts and methods, advanced monitoring, remediation technologies

Resources