Risk management methodology for construction of underground structures

Matsui, Hiroya ; Ijiri, Yuji*; Kamemura, Katsumi*

JAEA has been conducting research and development at two underground research laboratory projects, in crystalline and sedimentary rock at Mizunami, Gifu and Horonobe, Hokkaido respectively. In this report, individual risk assessment methods are shown based on existing studies on general underground construction projects and complementary data and experience obtained from the Mizunami URL project. The results suggest that risk assessments on geological disposal projects can utilize this methodology to assess risk in establishing the site description model for design and safety assessment of a repository, as was done in Phase I of the Mizunami URL. Thus the proposed methodology should have broad application and additional special investigations for risk management are not likely needed.