Safety and Safety Demonstration Concepts for a HLW Repository in Crystalline Rock

PTKA contracted GRS gGmbH, BGR, and our company, BGE TECHNOLOGY GmbH, with the R&D project CHRISTA-II to develop a safety and safety demonstration concept for a high-level waste repository in crystal-line rock. BGR will develop generic, site-independent geological models that are representative for the crystalline rock formations in Germany. These models will reflect the different types of containment providing rock zones (CRZ) that were identified as potentially suitable to host a repository during the preliminary investigations in project CHRISTA.

Furthermore, a generic FEP catalogue for crystalline rock in Germany will be developed, which – at a later stage – will be the basis for scenario development. Key elements of a safety demonstration concept are the demonstration of barrier integrity and the analysis of the radiological consequences. A conceptual design of the geologic and the geotechnical barriers will be prepared, and exemplary integrity analyses will be carried out. In addition to this, radiological safety indicators for the CRZ types in question will be calculated. To demonstrate the integrity, the integrity criteria that are defined qualitatively in the safety requirements will be quantified to such an extent that a mathematical verification can be carried out based on specific numerical values. The results are projected for the end of 2021.