Countermeasures planned for reducing water inflow into deep shafts at the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory

Kuji, Masayoshi; Sato, Toshinori  ; Mikake, Shinichiro ; Hara, Masato; Minamide, Masashi; Sugihara, Kozo

The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) is being constructed. The MIU consists of two 1,000 m-deep shafts with several research galleries. The diameter of the shafts are 6.5 m and 4.5 m, respectively. Horizontal tunnels to connect the shafts are excavated at 100 m depth intervals. The Middle stage, at about 500 m depth, and the Main stage at about 1,000 m depth will be the main locations for scientific investigations. Current depths of shafts are 180 m and 191 m respectively, in November, 2006. During the construction, the quantity of water inflow into the shafts is increasing and disturbing the project progress. In order to reduce the quantity of water inflow, post-excavation grouting and pre-excavation grouting are planned. A test of post-excavation grouting was undertaken in the Ventilation shaft and the applicability of several techniques were evaluated.