Investigation for grout-filling fracture collected from -300m stage of the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory Construction Site

Yuguchi, Takashi; Ishibashi, Masayuki; Morikawa, Keita; Kunimaru, Takanori

Tono Geoscientific Research Unit of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) is carrying out the Underground Research Laboratory Project, which is a scientific study revealing the deep geological environment as a basis of research and development for geological disposal of high level radioactive wastes. Nowadays, the project is under the Phase II and Phase III. In the 2011 fiscal year, rock specimens accompanied with grout-filling fracture were collected from -300m Access / Research Gallery of the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory Construction Site, which were processed into thin sections, and then observed through polarizing microscopy. The grout-filling fracture can be identified as groundwater flow path and thus mass transfer pathway. Investigation methodology and petrological / mineralogical data are basic information for the study of mass transfer in Phase III. This paper presents sampling procedure of rock specimen accompanied with grout-filling fracture and compiles the results of these petrographical observations and analyses.