. "The Management of High-Level Radioactive Wastes from the Mayak Production Association and Plans for the Creation of an Underground Laboratory." An International Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility -- Exploring a Russian Site as a Prototype: Proceedings of an International Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2005.
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An International Spent Nuclear Fuel Storage Facility: Exploring a Russian Site as a Prototype - Proceedings of an International Workshop
The following two options are under consideration to facilitate obtaining the necessary information from the observation wells:
installation of a stationary system of sensors that could be replaced by an analog system if necessary
collection of measurements using well logging methods
The equipment at ground level must be designed to ensure the ability to raise and lower instruments into the wells and to provide for uninterrupted observation capabilities over a long period.
Research and development efforts regarding the lowering of vitrified waste cases are to be carried out in well 2, which is to be equipped with mechanisms for raising and lowering objects. The design and technical characteristics of these mechanisms must ensure not only the accident-free lowering and placement of the cases in the well hole but also their extraction for the necessary studies after a given period of time has passed.
After the raising and lowering operations are fully studied, research can then be conducted on the technology for applying buffer materials for isolating containers of radioactive waste.
Studies are planned regarding the physical-chemical processes occurring during the storage of wastes in a well with the aim of discovering possible changes in the physical-chemical and physical-mechanical properties of the environment in the “case-well-rock-liquid phase” system. Research is being carried out under natural and laboratory conditions. Objectives for the laboratory research include the following:
verification of predictive data on gas separations during the underground waste storage process
detection of changes in rock properties due to the effects of radiation
The following work is required to develop predictive assessments and ensure that the necessary data are available for the project:
determination of the threshold dose at the start of surface destruction of minerals and evaluation of the permissible time of exposure at various doses
study of the effect of temperature and irradiation on the physical-mechanical properties of various types of rock
study of the transformation of water content during irradiation and at temperatures from 20 to 200°C
study of a group of minerals and their compositions in the aim of using them as barriers to isolate the cases of wastes from the surrounding geological environment
