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 nearfield 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.

Predicting the long-term natural decay of inflow from faults or fractures encountered during excavation of deep underground tunnels using the flow dimension

Sakuma, Keisuke; Ishii, Eiichi; Murakami, Hiroaki

Environmental Earth Sciences, 84(22), p.663_1 - 663_11, 2025/11

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-025-12680-9

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.

Rock strength and stress dependence of local flow-path connectivity within faults or fractures; A Preliminary overview of virtual and in-situ hydraulic tests

Ishii, Eiichi; Ozaki, Yusuke; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Sugawara, Kentaro*

Hydrogeology Journal, 33(1), p.63 - 85, 2025/02

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10040-024-02859-y

This study performed virtual packer tests on modeled single fractures on computer and derived the relationship between flow dimension and mappable indicator, DI, which is defined by the mean stress, groundwater pressure, and rock tensile strength. The greater DI results in the smaller flow area in faults or fractures, subject to fracture-normal closure. Comparing the derived relationship with results from in situ hydraulic tests on natural faults in rock with few fracture-mineral-fillings revealed that flow-path connectivity is high (flow dimension 1.5) when DI was 2.0 while was low (flow dimension 1.5) when DI was 2.0. This relationship was valid even when DI was varied, or faults were sheared, during injection tests on faults, and even in rock with abundant fracture-mineral-fillings. However, flow-path connectivity in minor fractures far from faults could be also low even when DI was 2.0 probably due to poor connection to the main fault network or sealing effects of fracture-mineral-fillings. When the permeability of intact rock is high, flow-path connectivity in fractures was high even when DI was 2.0. These findings can be helpful to map the spatial distribution of flow-path connectivity in faults or fractures from limited borehole data.

Observational evidence of elastic shear displacement along a minor fault in soft siliceous mudstone

Tamura, Tomonori; Ishii, Eiichi; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Yagi, Keisuke*

Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 9 Pages, 2025/00

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00603-025-05138-8

Effective porosity in groundwater flow analysis for fractured sedimentary rocks; Case studies of the Koetoi and Wakkanai formations in Horonobe, Hokkaido, Japan

Miyakawa, Kazuya; Ishii, Eiichi; Imai, Hisashi*; Hirai, Satoru*; Ono, Hirokazu; Nakata, Kotaro*; Hasegawa, Takuma*

Genshiryoku Bakkuendo Kenkyu (CD-ROM), 31(2), p.82 - 95, 2024/12

https://doi.org/10.3327/jnuce.31.2_82

no abstracts in English

Modelling transport pathways of faults with low hydraulic connectivity in mudstones with low swelling capacity

Ono, Hirokazu; Ishii, Eiichi; Takeda, Masaki

Geoenergy (Internet), 2(1), p.geoenergy2023-047_1 - geoenergy2023-047_10, 2024/12

https://doi.org/10.1144/geoenergy2023-047

Biofilm formation on excavation damaged zone fractures in deep neogene sedimentary rock

Hirota, Akinari*; Kozuka, Mariko*; Fukuda, Akari*; Miyakawa, Kazuya; Sakuma, Keisuke; Ozaki, Yusuke; Ishii, Eiichi; Suzuki, Yohei*

Microbial Ecology, 87, p.132_1 - 132_15, 2024/10

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00248-024-02451-7

Deep underground galleries are used to access the deep biosphere in addition to mining and other engineering applications such as geological disposal of radioactive wastes. Fracture networks developed in the excavation damaged zone (EDZ) are concerned to accelerate mass transport, where microbial colonization might be possible due to the availability of space and nutrients. In this study, microbial biofilms at EDZ fractures were investigated by drilling from a 350-m deep gallery and subsequent borehole logging at the Horonobe underground research laboratory (URL). By using microscopic and spectroscopic techniques, the dense colonization of microbial cells was demonstrated at the surfaces of the EDZ fractures with high hydraulic conductivities. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed the dominance of gammaproteobacterial lineages, the cultivated members of which are aerobic methanotrophs. Near-complete Horonobe groundwater genomes affiliated within the methanotrophic lineages were fully equipped with genes involved in aerobic methanotrophy. Although the mediation of aerobic methanotrophy remains to be demonstrated, microbial O production was supported by the presence of genes in the near-complete genomes, such as catalase and superoxide dismutase that produce O from reactive oxygen species and a nitric oxide reductase gene with the substitutions of amino acids in motifs. It is concluded that the EDZ fractures provide energetically favorable subsurface habitats to microorganisms.

Assessment of advection dispersion through excavation damaged zone in sedimentary rock by in situ tracer tests

Takeda, Masaki; Ishii, Eiichi

Genshiryoku Bakkuendo Kenkyu (CD-ROM), 31(1), p.3 - 10, 2024/06

https://doi.org/10.3327/jnuce.31.1_3

Uunderstanding nuclide transport characteristics in the EDZ of disposal and access tunnels is an essential issue in the safety assessment of geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste. Although tracer tests are effective in evaluating the transport of nuclides in rock masses, the transport properties of EDZ in sedimentary rock, to our best knowledge, have not been investigated by in situ tracer tests. The authors conducted cross-hole tracer tests on EDZ fractures at the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory to evaluate their longitudinal dispersibility. One-dimensional advection-dispersion analyses based on the tracer test data were performed, and the longitudinal dispersibility was estimated to be 0.12 m for the test scale of 4.2 m. This longitudinal dispersibility is 1/100 to 1/10 of the test scale, comparable with the empirical relationship between the test scale and longitudinal dispersibility for natural fractures and rock matrices. The series of tracer tests and analyses reported in this paper demonstrate that advection-dispersion occurs also in EDZ fractures similarly to natural fractures and rock matrices, and that longitudinal dispersibility in EDZ fractures can be assessed also by conventional in situ tracer test methods.

Paleohydrogeology of the Horonobe area, Northern Hokkaido, Japan; Groundwater flow conditions during glacial and postglacial periods estimated from chemical and isotopic data for fracture and pore water

Mochizuki, Akihito; Ishii, Eiichi

Applied Geochemistry, 155, p.105737_1 - 105737_15, 2023/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2023.105737

Understanding the difference in groundwater flow between glacial and interglacial periods is crucial for predicting the impact of future climate changes on groundwater movement. This study assesses the difference in groundwater flow between the last glacial period (LGP) and the postglacial period (PGP) in fractured mudstones of the Horonobe area, Japan, by combining the data for stable isotopes (D and O) and Cl concentration of fracture and pore waters with radiocarbon (C) age. The isotopic compositions of fractures and pore waters indicate that groundwater at 28250 m deep in a borehole closest to the recharge area comprises meteoric water, recharged under the same climates as the present. The fracture water has isotopic compositions more similar to meteoric water than the matrix pore water near the fracture. The C age of fracture water suggests meteoric water recharge during the PGP. At greater depths in the borehole and sampling points in other boreholes, the isotopic compositions indicate the mixing of glacial meteoric and altered connate water, with the fracture water having comparable isotopic compositions with the matrix pore water. The recharge timing of meteoric water is inferred to be the LGP or before based on C dating. These results suggest that the meteoric water recharged during the PGP flows at a shallow depth, whereas the meteoric water recharged during the LGP intruded to greater depths. This result is consistent with previous inferences from surface geophysical and geological surveys that the depths of local valleys during the LGP were greater by 50 m than the present ones and enhanced the downward hydraulic gradient. Combining the chemical and isotopic compositions of groundwater with C age helps assess the groundwater flow during the LGP and PGP in fractured rocks.