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Creation of an Underground Repository for Spent Nuclear Fuel near the City of Zheleznogorsk (Eastern Siberia)
Pages 166-176

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From page 166...
... SELECTION OF THE NIZHNEKANSK GRANITOID MASSIF The territory covered in the initial search effort included portions of three global geologic structures: the Siberian platform, the west Siberian plate, and the Altai-Sayan orogenic zone. An analysis of all information gathered on the geology, tectonics, seismic activity, natural resource utilization, and other aspects, *
From page 167...
... 3, Krasnoyarsk · Krasnoyarsk Geological Survey · Northern Geological Party of the Joint-Stock Company Yeniseigeofizika · All-Russia Institute for Prospecting and Ore Geophysics · Ecology and Geodynamics Research and Production Center · Center for Electromagnetic Research including socioeconomic and demographic data, indicated that an appropriate geologic formation should be sought within the bounds of the crystalline base of the Siberian platform among the magmatic and metamorphic rock of the southern part of the Yenisei ridge, a boundary structure for the Siberian platform that reveals its crystalline base (see Figure 1)
From page 168...
... . The selection process was based on the following: · data on the geologic and tectonic structure of the region · gravimetric and aeromagnetic mapping materials on a 1:200,000 scale · results of the analysis of satellite and aerial survey photos on scales ranging from 1:200,000 to 1:100,000 FIGURE 1 Location of the Nizhnekansk granitoid massif, a potential site for the disposition of high-level wastes generated by the Mining-Chemical Complex in Zheleznogorsk (Krasnoyarsk-26)
From page 169...
... . On the basis of specially developed search criteria -- including seismic and tectonic activity of the area, dimensions of comparatively homogeneous rock formations, and distance from the Mining-Chemical Complex -- the Nizhnekansk granitoid massif, one of the largest granitoid massifs in central Siberia, was selected from among all potentially suitable sites.
From page 170...
... · hydrologic and hydrogeologic studies · surface geophysical surveying using electric, magnetic, gravitation, and seismographic methods · an analysis of satellite and aerial photographs · drilling of several deep boreholes up to 700 m deep As a result two sites in the northern part of the Nizhnekansk massif -- Itatsky and Kamenny -- were identified as the most promising for construction of the storage facility from among the several potentially suitable sites studied (see Figure 3)
From page 171...
... ability water saturation, but zones of high fracturability and secondary changes were also encountered. The Russian Academy of Sciences Institute of the Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy, and Geochemistry has conducted detailed petrographic and petrophysical studies of samples taken from drill cores 1-I and 1-K at the Nizhnekansk massif.
From page 172...
... Such phenomena undoubtedly violate the homogeneity of the rock formations at the selected sites. The spatial distribution of these phenomena at the Nizhnekansk massif must be evaluated along with their
From page 173...
... This is illustrated by several experiments that have been conducted at the Radium Institute. The results of plutonium sorption experiments on granitoid samples with various levels of secondary changes show that the maximum sorption capacity was found in a sample of quartz diorite containing such secondary minerals as chlorite, biotite, seritsite, and carbonate.
From page 174...
... Therefore, great significance lies in experimental data on the permeability and radiation and heat resistance of various types of rock, as well as the restraining properties of the rock with regard to radionuclides. Special radiochemical experiments conducted at the Radium Institute demonstrate that the sorption restraint of plutonium and americium by granitoids from the TABLE 1 Distribution Coefficients (Kd)
From page 175...
... · In the future the overall tectonic regime in the northern part of the massif and its separate blocks will not affect the integrity of underground repository facilities, which will be elevated to an insignificant degree, along with the block in which they are located without violating the monolithic nature of the block itself. An analysis of paleoclimatic reconstructions give grounds to postulate that possible climatic changes over the next 50,000 years would preclude any crises that would intensify erosion processes or affect the security of an underground storage facility in the Nizhnekansk granitoid massif.
From page 176...
... Following is a list of the fundamental unresolved problems: · insufficient information on the geological structure of the massif and individual sites; no direct and unambiguous data on such fundamental characteristics as the strength of the granitoids, for example · no identification and study of fault, fracturability, and cataclasm zones and radiogeochemical and other characteristics of the main migration channels · insufficient assessment in barrier property studies of the role of secondary changes as a factor that could play both a positive and a negative role with regard to facility security · very little data on deep geological conditions and on the regime for transit and unloading of underground waters and gases · practically complete lack of isotopic geochemical research that would provide unique information on the condition of the lithospheric environment · lack of long-term geological-tectonic and geoecological forecasts regarding the area Given the above points, it seems necessary (if financing is available) to continue comprehensive geological, hydrogeological, geophysical, and geochemical research aimed at providing a scientific basis for the selection of a specific site for the construction of an underground laboratory and subsequently the storage facility itself.


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