Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project Investigation report for the 2024 fiscal year

Nakayama, Masashi; Ishii, Eiichi; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Hayano, Akira; Murakami, Hiroaki; Ono, Hirokazu; Takeda, Masaki; Fukatsu, Yuta; Mochizuki, Akihito; Ozaki, Yusuke; et al.

JAEA-Review 2025-042, 136 Pages, 2025/12

JAEA-Review-2025-042.pdf:12.95MB

The Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) Project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of relevant technologies for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste through investigating the deep geological environment within the host sedimentary rocks at Horonobe-cho in Hokkaido, north Japan. In the fiscal year 2024, we continued R&D on "Study on near-field system performance in geological environment", "Demonstration of repository design options", and "Understanding of buffering behaviour of sedimentary rock to natural perturbations". These are identified as key R&D on challenges to be tackled in the Horonobe underground research plan for the fiscal year 2020 onwards. Specifically, "full-scale engineered barrier system (EBS) performance experiment" and "solute transport experiment with model testing" were carried out as part of "Study on near-field system performance in geological environment". "Demonstration of engineering feasibility of repository technology" and "evaluation of EBS behaviour over 100C" were addressed for "Demonstration of repository design options". The validation of a method for assessing permeability using the Ductility Index and a method for estimating the state of in-situ ground pressure from hydraulic perturbation tests were investigated as part of the study "Understanding of buffering behaviour of sedimentary rock to natural perturbations". In FY2024, we continued construction of the East Access Shaft and the Ventilation Shaft, and construction of these shafts were completed to a depth of 500 m. After the completion of the East Access Shaft, excavation of the West Access Shaft and 500 m gallery has began. As of the end of FY2024, excavation progress is as follows, the East Access Shaft and the Ventilation Shaft were 500 m depth, the West Access Shaft was 472 m depth, 500 m gallery was 112.9 m, respectively. In the Horonobe International Project (HIP), Management Board and Joint Task Meeting was held at the Horonobe URL in June 2024 to review the progress of construction of galleries and preparations of experiments. Task Meetings to review the implementation plan for in-situ testing and analysis were also held. HIP will be implemented in two phases: Phase 1 (from FY2022 to FY2024) and Phase 2 (from FY2025 to FY2028), the research results of Phase 1 were compiled in FY2024.

High stabilization of pentavalent uranium on magnetite nanoparticles evidenced by high-energy-resolution X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Yomogida, Takumi; Scaria, J.*; Fablet, L.*; Tokunaga, Kohei; Dei, Shuntaro; Higashi, Kotaro*; Kawamura, Naomi*; Takahashi, Yoshio*; Marsac, R.*

Chemical Communications, 61(91), p.17926 - 17929, 2025/11

https://doi.org/10.1039/D5CC04540A

This paper presents insights into the influence of magnetite stoichiometry (0 R = Fe(II)/Fe(III) 0.5) on the surface reduction of U(VI) to U(V) and U(IV), as a key parameter controlling U redox speciation in natural settings. Although R can readily change due to the oxidation of structural Fe(II) or proton/ligand-promoted dissolution, prior studies have not quantified U(V) when assessing these effects. We employed U L-edge HERFD-XANES spectroscopy to investigate the electronic structure of U on magnetite with varying stoichiometries and observed a peak splitting of U(V) on magnetite. Our results demonstrate the high stability of U(V) species under a wide range of conditions, and after 10 days on magnetite by the combination of MCR-ALS analysis. A key finding is that structural Fe(II), whose abundance depends on pH and redox conditions, plays a critical role for in the stabilization of U(V) on magnetite.

Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project Investigation Program for the Fiscal Year 2025

Nakayama, Masashi; Ishii, Eiichi; Hayano, Akira; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Murakami, Hiroaki; Ono, Hirokazu; Takeda, Masaki; Mochizuki, Akihito; Ozaki, Yusuke; Kimura, Shun; et al.

JAEA-Review 2025-027, 80 Pages, 2025/09

JAEA-Review-2025-027.pdf:6.22MB

The Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency to enhance the reliability of relevant technologies for geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste through investigating the deep geological environment within the host sedimentary rocks at Horonobe Town in Hokkaido, north Japan. In the fiscal year 2025, we continue R&D on "Study on near-field system performance in geological environment" and "Demonstration of repository design options". These are identified as key R&D challenges to be tackled in the Horonobe underground research plan for the fiscal year 2020 onwards. In the "Study on near-field system performance in geological environment", we continue to obtain data from the full-scale engineered barrier system performance experiment, and work on the specifics of the full-scale engineered barrier system dismantling experiment. As for "Demonstration of repository design options", the investigation, design, and evaluation techniques are to be systemized at various scales, from the tunnel to the pit, by means of an organized set of evaluation methodologies for confinement performance at these respective scales. Preliminary borehole investigations will be conducted within a 500 m gallery, with the objectives of obtaining rock strength and rock permeability data, as well as surveying the extent of the excavation damaged zone surrounding the test tunnel via tomographic analysis. A planning study for the in-situ construction test will be conducted to investigate the construction of backfill material and watertight plugs. The volume of water inflow associated with the excavation of the 500 m gallery will be observed, and its magnitude will be compared with the range of water inflow predicted in the analysis. The test plan to determine the extent of the excavation damaged zone around the pit, which is planned to be constructed in the 500 m gallery, will be studied to determine the in-situ excavation damaged zone. In addition, the investigation and evaluation methods for the amount of water inflow from fractures and the extent of the excavation damaged zone around the pit will be organized. Concerning the construction and maintenance of the subsurface facilities, excavation of the West Access Shaft and the 500 m gallery will continue. It is anticipated that the construction of the facilities will be completed by the end of the fiscal year 2025. In addition, we continue R&D on the following three tasks in the Horonobe International Project; Task A: Solute transport experiment with model testing, Task B: Systematic integration of repository technology options, and Task C: Full-scale engineered barrier system dismantling experiment.

Long-term monitoring of pore pressure/groundwater level using deep/shallow boreholes in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project

Honda, Norihisa; Dei, Shuntaro; Ishii, Eiichi

JAEA-Data/Code 2022-002, 37 Pages, 2022/06

JAEA-Data-Code-2022-002.pdf:2.85MB
JAEA-Data-Code-2022-002-appendix(CD-ROM).zip:5.68MB

Long-term monitoring of pore pressure/groundwater level has been performed at the deep boreholes HDB-1-11 and PB-V01 and seven shallow boreholes in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project. This report summarizes the results obtained from the starts of monitoring to March 2021.

Records of physicochemical parameters by geochemical monitoring system in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (FY2017-FY2019)

Dei, Shuntaro; Mochizuki, Akihito; Miyakawa, Kazuya; Sasamoto, Hiroshi

JAEA-Data/Code 2021-005, 54 Pages, 2021/06

JAEA-Data-Code-2021-005.pdf:4.95MB
JAEA-Data-Code-2021-005-appendix(CD-ROM).zip:5.42MB

Japan Atomic Energy Agency had been conducting "geoscientific study" and "research and development on geological disposal" in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) for safe geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Groundwater pressure, pH, and oxidation-reduction potential in the deep groundwater have been continuously monitored with monitoring systems which were developed in the Horonobe URL Project. This report presents the physicochemical parameters of groundwater which have been obtained by the monitoring systems installed at the 140 m, 250 m and 350 m gallery. The data acquired from April 2017 to the end of March 2020 was summarized along with related information such as the specifications of boreholes.

Interaction between elements and particles in deep groundwater; A Laboratory experiment using rare earth elements

Mochizuki, Akihito; Amano, Yuki; Dei, Shuntaro; Beppu, Hikari*

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Retention mechanisms of selenium in deep subsurface sedimentary formations in Horonobe area, Hokkaido, Japan

Dei, Shuntaro; Tachi, Yukio; Amano, Yuki; Sugiura, Yuki; Francisco, P. C. M.; Takahashi, Yoshio*

no journal, , 

Selenium speciation in sedimentary formations from Horonobe, Hokkaido

Dei, Shuntaro; Miyakawa, Kazuya; Sasamoto, Hiroshi; Tachi, Yukio; Amano, Yuki; Francisco, P. C. M.; Sugiura, Yuki; Takahashi, Yoshio*

no journal, , 

no abstracts in English

Retention mechanisms of uranium in calcite veins from deep subsurface sedimentary formations of the Horonobe area, Hokkaido, Japan

Dei, Shuntaro; Sugiura, Yuki; Amano, Yuki; Francisco, P. C. M.; Takahashi, Yoshio*; Tachi, Yukio

no journal, , 

Uranium (U) is considered one of the important radionuclides for safety assessment of the geological disposal because U(VI) can form soluble carbonate complexes. Calcite is expected to precipitate as a secondary mineral in sedimentary rocks, and radionuclides migration may be retarded by incorporation into the calcite crystal structure. Although some laboratory experiments have reported U uptake by calcite, the distribution and chemical form of U in natural calcite is difficult to determine due to interference from coexisting elements. In this study, micro X-ray analyses were carried out on deep sedimentary rock samples to identify the distribution and chemical form of U in natural calcite.