Research on geosphere stability for long-term isolation of radioactive waste (Progress report for fiscal years 2005 - 2009: H22 report)

Kusano, Tomohiro; Asamori, Koichi; Kurosawa, Hideki; Kokubu, Yoko   ; Tanikawa, Shinichi; Negi, Tateyuki; Hanamuro, Takahiro  ; Yasue, Kenichi; Yamasaki, Seiko; Yamada, Kunimi; Ishimaru, Tsuneari ; Umeda, Koji

This progress report (H22 report) documents progress made during JAEA 1st Midterm Plan (FY 2005 - 2009) to provide the scientific base for assessing geosphere stability for long-term isolation of the high-level radioactive waste. For the current 5-year R&D programme, three major goals have been defined as follows: (1) development and synthesis of investigation techniques for selecting suitable sites in geosphere stability, (2) development, application, and evaluation of prediction models for evaluating the changes of geological environment in thermal, hydraulic, mechanical and geochemical conditions for a long period of time, and (3) development of new dating techniques for providing information about geologic history and the timing of geologic events. In this paper, the current status of R&D activities with previous scientific and technological progress is summarized.