Description

Phased operation mainly affects the geosphere and the subsequent development of the entire repository. The hydrological state of the bedrock is perturbed as soon as repository excavation starts (a smaller perturbation even occurs earlier during site investigations). Different parts of the repository, completed at different times, will be exposed to different hydrological conditions, affecting e.g. the saturation of the buffer and backfill. Possible upconing of saline water could also vary between different parts of repository due to phased operation. Other factors to consider are the effects of blasting and underground traffic on completed parts of the repository. All these issues are part of the expected evolution of the repository, but are not automatically captured in the system of processes describing the repository evolution over time or by the initial state descriptions. As they need to be adequately included in the discussion of the repository evolution, they are propagated to the analysis of the reference evolution.

SKB Number

SKB FEP Number

ISGen02

Main Category

Main category for FEP

Initial state

System Component

System component to which the FEP applies

General

Handling

Explanation of how the FEP is treated

Assessed based on thermal, rock mechanics and transient hydrogeological simulations for an open repository.

References

Bibliographic references to obtain more information

SR-Site Main report, TR-11-01, Section(s) 10.2.6