Enhanced Sealing Project (ESP): evolution of a full-sized bentonite and concrete shaft seal

Abstract

Abstract A full-scale shaft seal was designed and installed in the 5 m-diameter access shaft at Atomic Energy of Canada Limited's (AECL's) Underground Research Laboratory at the point where the shaft intersects an ancient water-bearing, low-angle thrust fault at a depth of c. 275 m in granitic rock. The seal consists of a 6 m-thick bentonite-based component sandwiched between 3 m-thick, keyed upper and lower concrete components. This design was adopted in order to limit the mixing of saline groundwater from the deeper regime with the fresher, near-surface groundwater regime. Construction of the shaft seal was done as part of Canada's Nuclear Legacy Liabilities Program. A jointly funded monitoring project, called the Enhanced Sealing Project (ESP), was developed by AECL (Canada) and jointly funded by NWMO (Canada), SKB (Sweden), Posiva Oy (Finland), and ANDRA (France), and since mid 2009 the thermal, hydraulic and mechanical evolution of the seal has been constantly monitored. The evolution of the type of seal being monitored in the ESP is of relevance to repository closure planning by demonstrating the functionality of shaft seals. Although constructed in a crystalline rock medium, the results of the ESP are relevant to the performance of seals in a variety of host rock types.