Gases in the repository for radioactive waste

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The problem of gases in the repository for radioactive waste has been recognized for a long time. The German Reactor Safety Commission (RSK) has already commissioned studies on gas formation in nuclear repository and evaluated them under the title Gases in the repository . A study initiated in 2009 by various specialist organizations at EU level is running under the title FORGE .

In addition to geological disturbances in the rock, which can exert physical forces on a repository over the long periods of storage, gases are one of the most sensitive problems of such deep disposal concepts. The stored metals as well as organic substances or bacteria that are unavoidable with them produce gases such as hydrogen and methane through corrosion or metabolic processes . These are only slowly removed in the dense host rock of the repository, and pressure builds up in the repository, which could even exceed the rock pressure . Different calculations of different organizations have after 1000 years of storage for a storage with high level waste pressure values ​​of z. B. 20 bar or even 40 bar - values ​​that could call the long-term safety of the bearing into question.

There is a high level of uncertainty regarding these gas generation rates. Approaches to a solution can be seen in an artificial expansion of the rock pores, which are also able to remove the gases naturally with a certain, limited capacity. However, the RSK notes that cracks could occur, which on the other hand could impair the intended barrier effect of the rock. In 2016, the ETH Lausanne provided new findings : researchers there discovered that there are also types of bacteria in the Opalinus Clay bedrock that do not build up hydrogen, but break it down. However, it is not yet clear whether they could not also have harmful effects.

literature

  • Federal Office for Radiation Protection Salzgitter: gas development . Final report, Conlenco report 3161/28, January 2005 ( pdf , bfs.de).
  • N. Müller-Hoeppe: Procedure for the control of gases in a repository in salt rock. Conference paper on gases in repositories in salt . Workshop of the GRS in cooperation with the PTKA-WTE, Berlin, 17. – 18. April 2007. GRS 242, Society for Plant and Reactor Safety (GRS) mbH, Braunschweig 2008, ISBN 978-3-939355-16-8 , pp. 149–155 ( pdf , dbetec.de).
  • I. Müller-Lyda (arr.): Generation and fate of gases in a repository for radioactive waste . Report on the GRS workshop on May 29 and 30, 1996 in Braunschweig. GRS 129. Society for Plant and Reactor Safety (GRS) mbH, 1997, ISBN 3-92387589-4 ( abstract , grs.de).
  • Reactor Safety Commission (RSK): gases in the repository . RSK statement of January 27, 2005, 379th meeting. ( pdf , rskonline.de).
  • André Rübel, Ulrich Noseck, Ingo Müller-Lyda, Klaus-Peter Kröhn, Richard Storck: Conceptual handling of gases in the repository . GRS 205. Society for Plant and Reactor Safety (GRS) mbH, 2004 ( abstract , grs.de).

proof

  • ENSI : Experience and research report 2011

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ FORGE - Fate of repository gas . Federal Nuclear Safety Inspectorate, accessed on December 12, 2013.
  2. ↑ Article in AZ Nordwestschweiz (print edition) from October 15, 2016.