A Study of the evaluation of the excavation damaged zone in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory, 1; Investigation in the 140 m gallery (Joint research)

Sugita, Yutaka ; Aoyagi, Kazuhei  ; Kubota, Kenji*; Nakata, Eiji*; Oyama, Takahiro*

In a excavation of shafts and galleries in the deep underground for disposing radioactive waste, an excavation damaged zone (EDZ) is developed around the galleries and shafts owing to the stress redistribution. Since the characteristic changes of the rock mass in the EDZ affects the radionuclides migration behavior, it is important to understand the long-term behavior of the EDZ. Thus, we performed the in situ experiment to investigate the long-term behavior of EDZ as part of the collaborative research between Japan Atomic Energy Agency and Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry in the 140m gallery in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory. In this research, we investigated the extent, mechanism of the change of hydro-mechanical characteristic, and long-term behavior of the EDZ on the basis of the comprehensive estimation of the results of the observation of the drift wall and the various investigations using boreholes such as geological investigation, the seismic and resistivity tomography, hydraulic test, water content monitoring, borehole loading test, convergence measurement, and so on. In addition, we clarified applicability and future tasks of the testing method used in this research for the investigation of the long-term behavior of the EDZ.