Countermeasures planned for reducing water inflow into deep shafts at the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (Research for post-excavation grouting)

Kuji, Masayoshi*; Matsui, Hiroya ; Hara, Masato; Minamide, Masashi*; Mikake, Shinichiro ; Takeuchi, Shinji; Sato, Toshinori*  ; Asai, Hideaki

A large amount of water inflow is frequently generated during the excavation of an underground cavern, such as road and railway tunnels, underground electric facilities etc. The reduction of water inflow is sometimes quite important for the reduction of cost for the water treatment and pumping during the construction of an underground cavern. The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) is currently being constructed by Japan Atomic Energy Agency. During its excavation, a large amount of water inflow into the shafts has been increasing and affecting the project progress. Therefore, a field experiment of post-excavation grouting around the Ventilation Shaft in a sedimentary formation carried out to confirm the effect of existing grouting technology for sedimentary formations in MIU project. The result shows that the applied methods in this field experiment are effective to prevent water inflow. This report describes the summary of the field experiment and the knowledge obtained through the experiment.