Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory Project, Annual report for fiscal year 2018

Takeuchi, Ryuji; Iwatsuki, Teruki; Matsui, Hiroya; Nohara, Tsuyoshi; Onoe, Hironori; Ikeda, Koki; Mikake, Shinichiro; Hama, Katsuhiro; Iyatomi, Yosuke; Sasao, Eiji

JAEA-Review 2020-001, 66 Pages, 2020/03

JAEA-Review-2020-001.pdf:7.6MB

The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) Project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of geological disposal technologies through investigations of the deep geological environment in the crystalline rock (granite) at Mizunami City, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. On the occasion of JAEA reformation in 2014, JAEA identified three remaining important issues on the geoscientific research program based on the synthesized latest results of research and development (R&D): "Development of countermeasure technologies for reducing groundwater inflow", "Development of modeling technologies for mass transport" and "Development of drift backfilling technologies". The R&D on three remaining important issues have been carrying out in the MIU Project. In this report, the current status of R&D and construction activities of the MIU Project in fiscal year 2018 is summarized.

Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory Project, Annual report for fiscal year 2017

Takeuchi, Ryuji; Iwatsuki, Teruki; Matsui, Hiroya; Nohara, Tsuyoshi; Onoe, Hironori; Ikeda, Koki; Mikake, Shinichiro; Hama, Katsuhiro; Iyatomi, Yosuke; Sasao, Eiji

JAEA-Review 2019-005, 76 Pages, 2019/06

JAEA-Review-2019-005.pdf:24.91MB

The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of geological disposal technologies through investigations of the deep geological environment in the crystalline rock (granite) at Mizunami City, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. On the occasion of the research program and management system revision of the entire JAEA organization in 2014, JAEA identified three remaining important issues on the geoscientific research program based on the latest results of the synthesizing research and development: "Development of countermeasure technologies for reducing groundwater inflow", "Development of modeling technologies for mass transport" and "Development of drift backfilling technologies". The research and development on three remaining important issues have been carrying out on the MIU project. In this report, the current status of the research and development activities and construction in fiscal year 2017 is summarized.

Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory Project, Annual report for fiscal year 2016

Ishibashi, Masayuki; Hama, Katsuhiro; Iwatsuki, Teruki; Matsui, Hiroya; Takeuchi, Ryuji; Nohara, Tsuyoshi; Onoe, Hironori; Ikeda, Koki; Mikake, Shinichiro; Iyatomi, Yosuke; et al.

JAEA-Review 2017-026, 72 Pages, 2018/01

JAEA-Review-2017-026.pdf:18.23MB

The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of geological disposal technologies through investigations of the deep geological environment in the crystalline host rock (granite) at Mizunami, Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. On the occasion of the research program and management system revision of the entire JAEA organization in 2014, JAEA identified three important issues on the geoscientific research program: "Development of countermeasure technologies for reducing groundwater inflow", "Development of modeling technologies for mass transport" and "Development of drift backfilling technologies", based on the latest results of the synthesizing research and development (R&D). The R&D on three important issues have been carrying out on the MIU project. In this report, the current status of R&D activities and construction in 2016 is summarized.

Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory Project, Annual report for fiscal year 2015

Hama, Katsuhiro; Iwatsuki, Teruki; Matsui, Hiroya; Mikake, Shinichiro; Ishibashi, Masayuki; Onoe, Hironori; Takeuchi, Ryuji; Nohara, Tsuyoshi; Sasao, Eiji; Ikeda, Koki; et al.

JAEA-Review 2016-023, 65 Pages, 2016/12

JAEA-Review-2016-023.pdf:47.32MB

The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of geological disposal technologies through investigations of the deep geological environment in the crystalline host rock (granite) at Mizunami City in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. On the occasion of the reform of the entire JAEA organization in 2014, JAEA identified three important issues on the geoscientific research program: "Development of countermeasure technologies for reducing groundwater inflow", "Development of modelling technologies for mass transport" and "Development of drift backfilling technologies", based on the latest results of the synthesizing research and development (R&D). These R&D on three important issues have been carrying out on the MIU project. In this report, the current status of R&D activities and construction in 2015 is summarized.

Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory Project, Plan for fiscal year 2016

Hama, Katsuhiro; Takeuchi, Ryuji; Iwatsuki, Teruki; Sasao, Eiji; Mikake, Shinichiro; Ikeda, Koki; Matsui, Hiroya; Osawa, Hideaki

JAEA-Review 2016-015, 29 Pages, 2016/07

JAEA-Review-2016-015.pdf:3.41MB

The Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory (MIU) project is being pursued by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) to enhance the reliability of geological disposal technologies through investigations of the deep geological environment in the crystalline host rock (granite rock) at Mizunami City in Gifu Prefecture, central Japan. On the occasion of the reform of the entire JAEA organization in 2014, JAEA identified three important issues on the geoscientific research program: "Development of countermeasure technologies for reducing groundwater inflow", "Development of modelling technologies for mass transport" and "Development of drift backfilling technologies", based on the latest results of the synthesizing research and development (R&D). These R&D on three remaining important issues have been carrying out on the MIU project. This report summarizes the R&D activities planned for fiscal year 2016 based on the MIU Master Plan updated in 2015 and so on.

Long term behavior of hydrogeological structures associated with faulting; An Example from the deep crystalline rock in the Mizunami URL, Central Japan

Ishibashi, Masayuki; Yoshida, Hidekazu*; Sasao, Eiji; Yuguchi, Takashi*

Engineering Geology, 208, p.114 - 127, 2016/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enggeo.2016.04.026

Damage zone (DS) formed by faulting in crystalline rocks can act as significant transport pathway. Therefore, this paper describes the features of WCFs and their long-term behavior associated with faulting based on the results of investigations at the GL -300m and -500m in the MIU. The results of detailed investigations in and around DZ indicate that there are three stages in the development of hydrogeological structures: 1st stage) the formation of background fractures; 2nd stage) the formation of a DZ and corresponding increase in the hydraulic permeability as a result of formation of small fractures; and 3rd stage) the formation of fracture fillings and the hydraulic permeability of the DZ decrease. In the late 3rd stage, unconsolidated clayey fillings formed associated with faulting resulting in decreased permeability of fractures in the DZ. These results underline the importance of understanding the development stages for evaluating the effect of faulting in orogenic belt plutons.

Studies on the reconstruction of the concept of rock mass around the tunnel; Japanese fiscal year, 2014 (Contract research)

Kojima, Keiji*; Onishi, Yuzo*; Aoki, Kenji*; Tochiyama, Osamu*; Nishigaki, Makoto*; Tosaka, Hiroyuki*; Yoshida, Hidekazu*; Murakami, Hiroaki; Sasao, Eiji

JAEA-Research 2015-017, 54 Pages, 2015/12

JAEA-Research-2015-017.pdf:17.3MB

This report is concerned with research to reconstruct more realistic near-field (NF) concept for the geological disposal of radioactive waste. This year is the final year of this committee activities. So we have carried out the summary on Re-thinking of NF concept and its technical basis. Cooperation between the study fields and combination of various science and technology and evaluation methods are one of the important technical bases of NF concept. In addition, since the "Great East Japan Earthquake 2011", the safety paradigm has shifted dramatically. In the reconstruction of realistic NF concept, it is necessary to analyze what security matters whether society has become unacceptable for geological disposal. Committee, we also exchange views on such matters and presented the direction of future research and development for geological disposal.

Geological investigations using cosmic ray muons; A Trial to detect fault at the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory

Sasao, Eiji; Suzuki, Keiichi*; Yamada, Nobuto*; Kuboshima, Koji*

Proceedings of 12th SEGJ International Symposium (USB Flash Drive), 4 Pages, 2015/11

We performed investigation of a fault with thick and clay-altered damaged zone in granitic rock using cosmic ray muons at the Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory. Geology of the Laboratory consists of sedimentary rock and underlying granite with unconformable contact at the 170 meters below ground level (G.L.). A vertical fault with a thick, clay-altered damaged zone is present in the granite. The muon telescopes were settled at the G.L.-200 and -300 meters to estimate densities of granite and fault. Densities of granite, fault and sedimentary rock are calculated as 3.38, 2.88 and 1.99 g/cm, respectively. The obtained density is obviously higher than absolute value, though the reason of such difference is not clear at the moment. If the density of granite is assumed to be 2.6 g/cm, then the densities of fault and sedimentary rock are re-calculated as 2.2 and 1.5 g/cm. This result indicates that cosmic ray muons have good potential to detect geological structure.

Synthesized research report in the second mid-term research phase; Mizunami Underground Research Laboratory Project, Horonobe Underground Research Laboratory Project and Geo-stability Project

Hama, Katsuhiro; Mizuno, Takashi; Sasao, Eiji; Iwatsuki, Teruki; Saegusa, Hiromitsu; Sato, Toshinori; Fujita, Tomoo; Sasamoto, Hiroshi; Matsuoka, Toshiyuki; Yokota, Hideharu; et al.

JAEA-Research 2015-007, 269 Pages, 2015/08

JAEA-Research-2015-007.pdf:68.65MB
JAEA-Research-2015-007(errata).pdf:0.07MB

We have synthesised the research results from Mizunami/Horonobe URLs and geo-stability projects in the second mid-term research phase. It could be used as technical bases for NUMO/Regulator in each decision point from sitting to beginning of disposal (Principal Investigation to Detailed Investigation Phase). High quality construction techniques and field investigation methods have been developed and implemented and these will be directly applicable to the National Disposal Program (along with general assessments of hazardous natural events and processes). It will be crucial to acquire technical knowledge on decisions of partial backfilling and final closure by actual field experiments in Mizunami/Horonobe URLs as main themes for the next phases.

Evaluation of two-stage system for neutron measurement aiming at increase in count rate at Japan Atomic Energy Agency - Fusion Neutronics Source

Shinohara, Koji; Ishii, Keiichi*; Ochiai, Kentaro; Baba, Mamoru*; Sukegawa, Atsuhiko; Sasao, Mamiko*; Kitajima, Sumio*

Review of Scientific Instruments, 85(11), p.11E823_1 - 11E823_4, 2014/11

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4893941