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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 100
C" 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.
Tachi, Yukio; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Ozaki, Yusuke; Hayano, Akira; Ono, Hirokazu; Takeda, Masaki; Mochizuki, Akihito; Dei, Shuntaro; Minaka, Jumpei; Murakami, Hiroaki; et al.
NEA/NE(2025)20 (Internet), 118 Pages, 2025/11
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.
Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Tamura, Tomonori; Murakami, Hiroaki; Hayano, Akira; Ozaki, Yusuke; Ono, Hirokazu; Ishii, Eiichi
Shigen, Sozai Koenshu (Internet), 12(2), 7 Pages, 2025/09
no abstracts in English
Sugita, Yutaka; Ono, Hirokazu; Beese, S.*; Pan, P.*; Kim, M.*; Lee, C.*; Jove-Colon, C.*; Lopez, C. M.*; Liang, S.-Y.*
Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 42, p.100668_1 - 100668_21, 2025/06
Times Cited Count：2 Percentile：77.28(Energy & Fuels)The international cooperative project DECOVALEX 2023 focused on the Horonobe EBS experiment in the Task D, which was undertaken to study, using numerical analyses, the thermo-hydro-mechanical (or thermo-hydro) interactions in bentonite based engineered barriers. One full-scale in-situ experiment and four laboratory experiments, largely complementary, were selected for modelling. The Horonobe EBS experiment is a temperature-controlled non-isothermal experiment combined with artificial groundwater injection. The Horonobe EBS experiment consists of the heating and cooling phases. Six research teams performed the THM or TH (depended on research team approach) numerical analyses using a variety of computer codes, formulations and constitutive laws.
Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Ozaki, Yusuke; Hayano, Akira; Ono, Hirokazu; Tachi, Yukio
Nihon Genshiryoku Gakkai-Shi ATOMO
, 67(6), p.354 - 358, 2025/06
Japan Atomic Energy Agency launched the Horonobe International Project (HIP) utilizing the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory. The main objectives of this project are to develop and demonstrate advanced technologies to be used in repository design, operation and closure and a realistic safety assessment in deep geological disposal, and to encourage and train the next generation of engineers and researchers. In this review, an overview of the HIP is presented.
Ono, Hirokazu; Takayama, Yusuke*
Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 41, p.100636_1 - 100636_14, 2025/03
Times Cited Count：1 Percentile：57.14(Energy & Fuels)Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Ozaki, Yusuke; Ono, Hirokazu; Ishii, Eiichi
Dai-16-Kai Iwa No Rikigaku Kokunai Shimpojiumu Koen Rombunshu (Internet), p.269 - 274, 2025/01
We investigated the development of the excavation damaged zone (EDZ) induced by the excavation of modeled disposal pit which was excavated as a part of the full-scale engineering barrier experiment at 350 m depth. Seismic and electric tomography surveys, observation of rock core samples, borehole televiewer surveys and three-dimensional excavation analysis were performed to evaluate the extent of the EDZ around the pit. It was clarified that the EDZ was developed 0.8 to 1.6 m from the wall of the pit at a relatively shallower depth caused by the effect of the EDZ induced around the floor of the gallery. The extent of the EDZ was gradually reduced along the depth, and the maximum extension was 0.3 m from the wall of the pit at the deeper section.
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
no abstracts in English
Ono, Hirokazu
Genshiryoku Bakkuendo Kenkyu (CD-ROM), 31(2), p.140 - 143, 2024/12
In the geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, after emplacement of an EBS, the near-field environment is affected by processes such as heat release from the waste, groundwater infiltration into the EBS, swelling and deformation of the buffer material, and chemical reactions between groundwater and minerals. It is crucial to develop simulation codes to evaluate such coupled thermal-hydraulic-stress-chemical (THMC) processes for safety assessment of geological disposal. The full-scale vertical-emplacement EBS experiment (Horonobe EBS experiment) has been undertaken in the 350 m gallery of the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) with the Horonobe geological environment. In the Horonobe EBS experiment, various sensors were installed in the buffer and backfill material to obtain the data required to evaluate coupled THMC processes in near-field. In Task C of the Horonobe International Project (HIP), the dismantling experiment of the Horonobe EBS experiment will be carried out and the data obtained from this experiment will be used to understand the coupled processes and to evaluate the simulation code.
Ono, Hirokazu; Ishii, Eiichi; Takeda, Masaki
Geoenergy (Internet), 2(1), p.geoenergy2023-047_1 - geoenergy2023-047_10, 2024/12
Ozaki, Yusuke; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Ono, Hirokazu; Kimura, Shun
Proceedings of 4th International Conference on Coupled Processes in Fractured Geological Media; Observation, Modeling, and Application (CouFrac2024) (Internet), 10 Pages, 2024/11
Electrical resistivity tomography was repeatedly carried out to investigate the changes of the electrical resistivity distribution around 350m Niche No. 2 and No. 4 in the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory. The electrical resistivity around Niche No. 2 did not change so much after the high resistive zone appeared around the tunnel by the excavation under opened condition during the studied period. Around Niche No. 4, the electrical resistivity was investigated under closed condition by engineered barrier system (EBS) where the EBS and surrounding rocks were disturbed artificially by water injection and heating. Our results could capture the change in the distribution of electrical resistivity due to the artificial disturbances in and around of Niche No. 4. These results would help us to understand the time lapse behavior of excavation damaged zone and re-saturation process in and around the EBS from the construction to the closure.
Nara, Yoshitaka*; Kashiwaya, Koki*; Oketani, Kazuki*; Fujii, Hirokazu*; Zhao, Y.*; Kato, Masaji*; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Ozaki, Yusuke; Matsui, Hiroya; Kono, Masanori*
Zairyo, 73(3), p.220 - 225, 2024/03
The fractures in the rock are the main pass of groundwater flow and solute transport. The filling of fine-grained particle, such as clay minerals, was confirmed to decrease the permeability of rock by laboratory experiment. This research aimed to verify the occurrence of the phenomena in the field. The water containing the clay minerals was injected into the rock at the 200m stage of the Mizunami Underground research laboratory. The hydraulic conductivity decreased two order before and after the injection. This result suggested that the decrease of hydraulic conductivity by the filling of fine-grained particle in the fractures occurred in the real field.
Ozaki, Yusuke; Ono, Hirokazu; Aoyagi, Kazuhei
Shigen, Sozai Koenshu (Internet), 6 Pages, 2023/09
In the Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory, the in-situ experiment for performance confirmation of engineered barrier system was performed at the 350 m stage to develop the technology for geological disposal. Several measurements have been conducted in and around the test drift to investigate the time dependent impact of the experiment on the rock and backfilled tunnel. Some measurement results are introduced in this presentation.
Ono, Hirokazu; Ishii, Eiichi
Geomechanics for Energy and the Environment, 31, p.100317_1 - 100317_9, 2022/09
Times Cited Count：10 Percentile：55.99(Energy & Fuels)Kitazato, Kohei*; Milliken, R. E.*; Iwata, Takahiro*; Abe, Masanao*; Otake, Makiko*; Matsuura, Shuji*; Takagi, Yasuhiko*; Nakamura, Tomoki*; Hiroi, Takahiro*; Matsuoka, Moe*; et al.
Nature Astronomy (Internet), 5(3), p.246 - 250, 2021/03
Times Cited Count：63 Percentile：95.03(Astronomy & Astrophysics)Here we report observations of Ryugu's subsurface material by the Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRS3) on the Hayabusa2 spacecraft. Reflectance spectra of excavated material exhibit a hydroxyl (OH) absorption feature that is slightly stronger and peak-shifted compared with that observed for the surface, indicating that space weathering and/or radiative heating have caused subtle spectral changes in the uppermost surface. However, the strength and shape of the OH feature still suggests that the subsurface material experienced heating above 300 C, similar to the surface. In contrast, thermophysical modeling indicates that radiative heating does not increase the temperature above 200 C at the estimated excavation depth of 1 m, even if the semimajor axis is reduced to 0.344 au. This supports the hypothesis that primary thermal alteration occurred due to radiogenic and/or impact heating on Ryugu's parent body.
Ono, Hirokazu; Takeda, Masaki; Ishii, Eiichi
Extended abstract of International Conference on Coupled Processes in Fractured Geological Media; Observation, Modeling, and Application (CouFrac 2020) (Internet), 4 Pages, 2020/11
Sato, Shin*; Ono, Hirokazu; Tanai, Kenji; Yamamoto, Shuichi*; Fukaya, Masaaki*; Shimura, Tomoyuki*; Niunoya, Sumio*
Jiban Kogaku Janaru (Internet), 15(3), p.529 - 541, 2020/09
no abstracts in English
on Pd(210)Ueta, Hirokazu; Sasakawa, Yuya*; Ivanov, D.*; Ono, Satoshi*; Ogura, Shohei*; Fukutani, Katsuyuki
Physical Review B, 102(12), p.121407_1 - 121407_5, 2020/09
Times Cited Count：5 Percentile：22.38(Materials Science, Multidisciplinary)Ortho-to-para conversion of molecularly chemisorbed H on a Pd(210) surface at a surface temperature of 50 K is reported. A combination of a pulsed molecular beam, photo-stimulated desorption and resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization techniques was used for probing the change in the rotational states of molecularly chemisorbed H on the surface. Our result shows that fast ortho-para conversion of chemisorbed H occurs. The conversion time was experimentally determined to be about 2 s, which is in good agreement with a previous theoretical calculation. This agreement supports that the ortho-para conversion mechanism of the molecularly chemisorbed H on Pd(210) is the two-step process based on the hyperfine-Coulomb excitation.
Nakayama, Masashi; Saiga, Atsushi; Kimura, Shun; Mochizuki, Akihito; Aoyagi, Kazuhei; Ono, Hirokazu; Miyakawa, Kazuya; Takeda, Masaki; Hayano, Akira; Matsuoka, Toshiyuki; et al.
JAEA-Research 2019-013, 276 Pages, 2020/03
JAEA-Research-2019-013.pdf:18.72MB
The Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory (URL) Project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of relevant disposal technologies for geological disposal of High-level Radioactive Waste through investigations of the deep geological environment within the host sedimentary rock at Horonobe Town in Hokkaido, north Japan. The investigations will be conducted in three phases, namely "Phase 1: Surface based investigations", "Phase 2: Construction phase" (investigations during construction of the underground facilities) and "Phase 3: Operation phase" (research in the underground facilities). According to the research plan described in the 3rd Mid- and Long- term Plan of JAEA, "Near-field performance study", "Demonstration of repository design option", and "Verification of crustal-movement buffering capacity of sedimentary rocks" are important issues of the Horonobe URL Project, and schedule of future research and backfill plans of the project will be decided by the end of 2019 Fiscal Year. The present report summarizes the research and development activities of these 3 important issues carried out during 3rd Medium to Long-term Research Phase.
