Germany - The Morsleben repository for radioactive waste (ERAM) is located in Saxony-Anhalt near

Description

The Morsleben repository for radioactive waste (ERAM) is located in Saxony-Anhalt near the border with Lower Saxony. Between 1971 and 1991 and from 1994 to 1998, a total of around 37,000 cubic meters of low and medium-level radioactive waste was disposed of. A planning approval procedure is underway for the decommissioning of the ERAM.

As part of this approval procedure, a decommissioning concept was developed to close the repository in such a way that it poses no long-term danger to people or the environment. The decommissioning concept applied for provides for the mine to be largely backfilled with salt concrete. In the event that relevant quantities of solution penetrate the repository, which is not expected but still has to be taken into account, special sealing structures are also to be built in the vicinity of the emplacement areas. In addition, the Bartensleben and Marie shafts are to be sealed.

The work tendered here for the implementation, evaluation and interpretation of convergence will serve to carry out the long-term safety analysis and assessment for the ERAM in accordance with the current status of S&T via suitable parameterizations.
The task is to be carried out on the basis of the long-term safety analyses carried out to date and the corresponding test results of the licensing authority and taking into account the statement of the ESK of 31.01.2013.
For calculations of the mass transport of radionuclides in the ERAM, the special software KAFKA was developed for the BGE in earlier projects. The KAFKA modeling software (compartment model for the dispersion and fluid dynamics in a converging underground facility for waste) is a numerical program package for the calculation of flow and transport processes in underground facilities in salt rock for the disposal of radioactive waste on the basis of a site-specific, current structural model with various compartment types (chambers, drifts, vertical connections and floats).

The KAFKA 3 version is written in the Julia programming language. The corrosive and microbial gas formation is calculated with the tool GASGEN (geochemical gas formation model), which is written in MATLAB® coupled with PHREEQC. The source terms for radionuclides and other pollutants are available and, like the convergence and gas formation, are to be prepared as input for KAFKA modelling using suitable parameterizations.

The post-processing tool EDR (Electronic Data & Results), which is tailored to the ERAM, makes it possible to document, evaluate and visualize the results. The EDR tool is written in JavaScript.

All work carried out must be documented in reports in accordance with the requirements of an approval procedure.

Opportunity closing date

28 October 2024

Value of contract

to be confirmed