|
Join our Web Seminar
Upcoming exploration activities within the German siting process for a high-level radioactive waste repository
Melissa Perner & Frank Meier
German National Waste Management Organisation (BGE)
According to the 'Repository Site Selection Act' (a governmental law, called in German the Standortauswahlgesetz – StandAG), the German National Waste Management Organisation (BGE) has been assigned to be the implementer for the German site selection process. As such, the BGE has the overarching aim to identify the site for a high-level radioactive waste repository in a deep geological formation with best possible safety conditions for a period of one million years. The German site selection procedure is an iterative process and consists of three phases with increasing depth of information and repetitive implementation of exclusion criteria, minimum requirements and the geoscientific weighting criteria (Sections 22-24 StandAG). Starting with a white map of Germany, the BGE completed Step 1 of Phase I in September 2020 with submission of the sub-areas interim report. Therein, 90 individual sub-areas are identified, providing favorable geological conditions for the safe disposal of radioactive waste in the legally considered host rocks rock salt, claystone and crystalline rock.
In the current Step 2 of Phase I, the representative preliminary safety assessments (Section 27 StandAG) are applied to narrow down these 90 sub-areas to siting regions (Section 14 StandAG). For these siting regions, all criteria and requirements have to be applied again on a higher level of information. This required level of information will be achieved within the scope of data acquisition campaigns with exploration activities in phase II (surface exploration) and phase III (subsurface exploration) of the site selection process. Parameters, which are needed for the preliminary safety assessments, are currently defined and translated into exploration targets. These targets are the base for developing the surface and subsurface exploration programs, taking into account subsurface data from former exploration activities such as seismic and borehole data, but also other geoscientific data. These data have to be selected, procured and reprocessed with the new focus of a potential high-level repository. After approval of the exploration programs by the regulator in this process, the “Federal Office for the Safety of Nuclear Waste Management” (BASE), the surface exploration, including surface geophysics and drilling activities, will take place within these siting regions in the scope of Phase II (Section 16 StandAG). Results obtained from surface exploration will be object to the Preliminary scientific safety assessments.
Phase III is characterized by higher-grade subsurface exploration activities (Section 18 StandAG), which again provide the base for preliminary safety assessments. The final site comparison and site recommendation (Section 19 StandAG) then leads to the final proposal of a high-level radioactive waste repository with the best possible safety conditions (Section 20 StandAG).
This presentation aims to give a brief overview of the work done so far, the present state of the selection process and on the preparation of upcoming exploration activities. Furthermore, it shall give a brief insight in possible exploration methods applicable within the German siting process for a high-level radioactive waste repository.
About the Lecturer
Melissa Perner joined the BGE in October 2019. Within the exploration unit in the Site Selection department, she works on the planning and preparation of exploration activities. She is an open minded and proactive Geoscientist with a PhD in Petroleum Geoscience on the “evaluation of the hydrocarbon potential within the northern Upper Rhine Graben, SW Germany”. Melissa brings several years of experience from the oil and gas industry in petroleum geoscience and wireline logging.
Frank Meier joined the BGE at June 2020. Frank is a passionate Geophysicist with over twenty-five years’ international experience in an industrial background and a wide range of geophysical, geological and geotechnical investigations, largely for resource and water exploration and infrastructure developments. In his current role as the head of geophysical exploration group at the BGE, he is responsible for the development of the surface exploration programs and their execution later in Phase II.
Details and Dial-in
Date: Thursday, May 27th 2021
16:00 – 17:00 Presentation and Q&A
Language: English
_____________________________________________________________________________
Microsoft Teams meeting
Join on your computer or mobile app
Click here to join the meeting
Join with a video conferencing device
teams@video.bakerhughes.com
Video Conference ID: 118 031 284 0
Alternate VTC dialing instructions
Or call in (audio only)
+1 281-810-1838,,744563242# United States, Houston
Phone Conference ID: 744 563 242#
Find a local number | Reset PIN
Learn More | Meeting options
|